UNIVERSITY  of  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 
LIBRARY 


PICTURE   STUDY 

IN 

ELEMKNTAIiV    SCHOOLS 

PAliT  I 
P1UMAUY   (7 HADE 


STATE.  NORMAL  SCHOOL, 

LOS  ANGELES,  GAL 


PICTURE   STUDY 

NOT  10  Et  TAKEN  FROM  THE  ROONT, 

ELEMENTARY   SCHOOLS 


FOR    TEACHERS 


BY 

L.    L.    \V.    WILSON 

AUTHOR  OF  "  NATURK  STUDY  IX  KLKMENTAKY  SCHOOLS,"  ETC. 


PART  I.     PRIMARY  GRADES 


gorh 
TIIK    MAC.MILLAX    COMPANY 

LONDON:   MACMILLAN  &  C'O.,  LTD. 
1899 


COPYRIGHT,  1^90, 
BY  THE   MACMILLAN   COMPANY. 


Nortoooti  13rrss 

J.  S.  Cuslnn-  ft  Co.  -  Berwick  &  Smith 
Norwood  Mass.  U.S.A. 


j  - 


THE   SCOPE   AND   PURPOSE   OF   THE 
SERIES 

THERE  are  two  Manuals  and  two  books  for  pupils  : 
the  one  set  for  Primary  Grades,  and  containing  fifty 
For  Grammar  pictures  in  each  ;  the  other  set  for  Grammar 
and  Primary  Grades,  with  forty  pictures  in  each.  The 
Grades  pictures  used  in  the  Manuals  are  in  each  case 

repeated  in  the  pupils'  books. 

The  Manuals  are  designed  to  aid  teachers  in  imparting 
to  children  a  true  appreciation  of,  and  love  for,  the  paint- 
ings by    the  world's  great  masters.     Pictures 
of  famous  and  beautiful  paintings  are  already 
becoming  widely  used  in  elementary  schools,  and  it  is  pro- 
posed to  shape  a  course  in  picture  study  which  shall  carry 
the  pupil  through  the  chief  schools  of  painting. 

The  arrangement  of  the  books  is  such  that  each  school 
is  represented  by  four  or  five  of  its  most  famous  examples, 
Plan  of  the  which  will  be  studied  with  a  view  to  the  appro- 
Books  priateness  of  their  subjects  to  the  months  of 

the  school  year. 

With  each  painter  represented    is  a  good  biography,    a. 
bibliography    of    works    of    reference    about    him    and    his 
school,  together  with  criticisms  by  famous   men  who  have 
made  his  works  their  study. 

Suggestions  as  to  the  method  to  be  pursued 
Method 

by  the  teacher  are  printed  with  each  picture. 

In  place  of  the  biography,  bibliography,  criticism,  and 
method  which  appear  in  the  Manuals,  the  pictures  in  the 
pjan  Of  pupils'  books  are  accompanied  by  one  page 

Pupils'  Books    each  of  text  containing  a  verse  or  two  germane 
to  the  subject  of  the  picture  facing  it. 


PREFACE 

BARK  white  walls,  blackboards,  maps,  a  calendar,  —  for 

years  this  has  been  the  schoolroom.  Art  has  no  place  here. 
Much  attention  lias  been  given  to  drawing,  it  is  true,  but 
it  has  been  for  the  most  part  juieeless  drawing  —  cones  and 
cylinders,  prisms  and  vases.  Small  wonder  that  wooden 
drawing  has  resulted  from  the  incessant  study  of  these 
wooden  forms. 

Now  all  has  been  changed.  Tinted  walls  adorned  with 
reproductions  of  great  pictures,  casts  of  famous  statuary, 
are  the  order  of  the  dav.  The  windows  are  filled  with 
living  plants  and  perhaps  an  aquarium.  Drawing  and 
color  study  of  natural  objects  have  supplanted  to  a  great 
extent  the  painfully  exact  drawing  of  the  geometric  solids. 

The,  result  of  all  this  is  that  the  child  is  more  nearly  in 
a  proper  environment  than  ever  before.  I >ut  this  environ- 
ment is  a  new  world.  For  it  he  needs  an  interpreter. 

To  help  the  busy  teacher  to  be  a  leader  toward  this  new 
/'tildi-t'  Jii'inififiil  and  a  guide  to  its  treasures,  these  manuals 
have  been  written. 

L.  I,.  W.  WILSON. 

J'llll.  ADKI.I'll  I  A     NolIMAI.    Srilool,, 

September,  l.v.i'.i. 


"PICTURE  study  should  be  taken  seriously.  The  effort  is  not  for 
amusement,  entertainment,  or  decoration  alone  ;  it  has  an  aim  and 
a  purpose  larger,  broader,  and  more  dignified  than  any  of  these. 
Picture  study  is  with  us,  if  we  read  the  times  aright,  because  the 
influence  of  art  reproduction  is  a  vital  power  in  our  daily  life.  We 
should  be  doing  only  half  our  duty  by  the  boys  and  girls  if  we  with- 
held from  them  this  art  life,  which  is  in  very  truth  their  legitimate 
inheritance.  Those  who  admit  that  gems  of  literature  belong  by 
right  to  the  public  school  scholar  will  have  difficulty  in  arguing  that 
pictures,  the  world's  gems  of  art,  shall  not  find  their  place  in  the 
schoolroom.'' — JAMES  FREDERICK  HOPKINS,  Director  of  Drawing  in 
Public  Schools,  Boston. 

"Beholding  true  beauty  with  the  eye  of  the  mind,  we  will  be 
enabled  to  bring  forth  not  images,  but  realities,  and  bringing  forth 
and  nourishing  true  virtues  to  become  the  friends  of  God."  —  PLATO. 

"  We  are  so  made  that  we  love 

First,  when  we  see  them  painted,  things  we  have  passed 
Perhaps  a  hundred  times,  nor  cared  to  see  ; 
So  they  are  better  painted  — better  to  us, 
Which  is  the  same  thing.     Art  was  given  for  that; 
God  uses  us  to  help  each  other  so, 
Lending  our  minds  out."  —  BROWSING. 


NOTE 

Tx  compiling  this  Manual  it  has  been  found  necessary  to 
quote  the  opinions  of  several  \frell-known  art  critics  whose 
works  are  copyrighted  in  this  country.  The  author  takes 
the  opportunity  to  acknowledge  the  very  prompt  kindness 
which  has  been  extended  to  her  by  Messrs.  Charles  Scrib- 
ner's  Sons,  who  have  given  her  permission  to  make  a  few 
quotations  from  Stranahan's  "  History  of  French  Taint- 
ing " ;  Messrs.  Harper  and  Brothers  for  permission  to 
reprint  the  quotation  from  Dr.  Henry  van  Dyke's  "  The 
Christ  Child  in  Art  "  ;  Messrs.  Henry  T.  Coates  &  Co.  for 
the  quotations  from  De  Amicis'  "Spain'7;  The  Century 
Company  for  their  permission  to  quote  Mr.  Timothy  Cole's 
description  of  the  two  pictures,  by  lluisdael  and  Maes, 
which  he  reproduced  in  the  Century ;  Messrs.  Curtis  & 
Cameron  for  permission  to  reproduce  Israels'  "A  Mother's 
Care"  and  Sargent's  "Prophets"  from  their  copyrighted 
photographs  ;  Messrs.  Eaton  &  Mains  for  permission  to  quote 
some  extracts  from  Van  Dyke's  "  How  to  Judge  a  Picture  "  ; 
Messrs.  Little,  Brown  &  Company  for  permission  to  use  two 
passages  from  Grimm's  ''Michael  Angelo"  and  some  lines 
from  Mrs.  Preston's  ''Cartoons";  to  Dr.  .1.  Frederick  Hop- 
kins for  permission  to  quote  his  opinion  upon  the  value  of 
art  study  in  the  public  schools;  Messrs.  (J.  P.  Putnam's 
Sous  for  permission  to  include  I)e  Amicis'  description  of 
Paul  Potter's  ''  Bull  "  and  Steams'  criticism  of  the  Madonna 
della  Sedia  which  appears  in  his  '•  Midsummer  of  Italian 
Art." 


TABLE    OF   CONTENTS 


SEPTEMBER  (HOME  AND  SCHOOL). 

L Mother  and  Child Mmi>.  L<>  Itnin  .  3 

Cat  Family        ......  Ai/din    ...  8 

t.  Girl  with  Cat Uni-ckiT          .  .10 

Primary  School  in  Brittany       .         .         .  (li'offmy         .  .  12 

September         ......  ZnhiT    ...  14 

OCTOBER   (XATiitic). 

The  Hay  Harvest       .....  ttuxtii'ii-Lp'i'Hujp  19 

Return  to  the  Farm           ....  Tr»y»n           .  .  22 

Harvest  Time L' IIrrinilt<'    .  .  24 

,  The  Balloon /M,,/v<    .         .  .  20 

,_  Shepherdess  Knitting        ....  Mi/li-t     .         .  .  29 

NOVEMBER    ( Pi;i:eAK  VIION    101:    WINTICK  AND  TIIANKSCIVINI;). 

Brittany  Sheep          .....  I'nxit  Hoiihcur  .  39 

Tlie  Shepherdess L,-n,/lf  .          .  .42 

The  Spinner      ......  Miirn      .          .  .  4(i 

^Esop         .......  \'<-Iuxi/ni'3      .  .  47 

Pilgrim  Exiles  ......  ISnHijhlun       .  .  50 

*  DECEMBER    (('IIIJISTMAS). 

Arrival  of   the  Shepherds            .          .          .  I^-i-nUi-  .          .  .  ">(! 

Holy  Ni-ht Cnrrriiijiii       .  .  ">8 

Madonna  and  Child  .          ....  l)iii/n<ui-ll<inr<Ti't  .  (>4 

Madonna  of  the  Louvre     ....  llo/tifi'lli        .  .  l>7 

Holy  Family VnriU<>          .  .  70 

*  S.i'e  iilxi  tluj  pirtui'o  inarki-il  \vitlp  an  :i.-tcrisk  in  .hinuary. 

xiii 


XIV 


TABLE   OF   CONTENTS 


JANt'ARY  (TiiE  GREAT  MASTERS). 


Angel        

.     Bellini  . 

77 

*  Madonna  of  the  Chair   . 

Itaphael 

82 

*  Madonna  of  the  Sack     . 

Andrea  del  Sarto  . 

87 

Diogenes  in  Search  of  an  Honest  Man 

Salvator  Horn 

91 

Prince  Balthasar       .... 

Velas/iuez 

97 

FEBRUARY  (TiiK  GREAT  MASTERS  — 

continued). 

Portrait  of  an  <  >ld  Woman 

.     Rembrandt    . 

111 

Portrait  of  Himself  .... 

.     Itiibens 

117 

Baby  Stuart      

Van  Dyck 

122 

..  Penelope  Boothby     .... 

lieynolds 

125 

Feeding  her  Birds     .... 

.     Millet    . 

134 

MARCH   (.MODERN   MASTERS). 

The  Shepherd's  Chief  Mourner 

Landsper 

139 

Jeanne  I)'  A  re  ..... 

148 

The  M  e(  t  in<r 

Bavhliirtveft' 

1  ;V) 

A  Mother's  Care       .... 

.     Israels  . 

104 

APRIL   (NATI-RE). 

Lake  at  Yille  D'Avray      . 

.     Corot     . 

171 

The  Willows     

.       Cornt      . 

180 

Dedham  Mill,  Essex 

Constable 

182 

Feeding  the  Hens      .... 

.       Millet     . 

188 

Spring       

.     Uiaz 

190 

MAY    (NATI-RE). 

In  the  Open  Country 

.     DHjire    . 

198 

Woman  Churning     .... 

.       Millet      . 

200 

Song  of  the  Lark      .... 

Breton  . 

202 

A  Helping  Hand 

Jt'euoiif  . 

20<; 

The  Young  Bull 

.     Potter    . 

208 

TABLE    OF   CONTENTS  XV 

PAGE 

JUNE   (VACATION  DAYS  IN  OTIIKK  LANDS). 

Algeria:  Arab  at  1 'ray er           .         .         .      Fortnny  •  .217 

^/Africa:   A  Kabyl Mtrrtjer  .  .     222 

Japan :   In  the  Uyeno  Park       .         .         .      Oiitunuiro  .  .     220 

Italian  :  A  Street  Scene    ....     Pftxxini  .  .     234 

Spain  :  The  Melon  Eaters         .         .         .     Murillo  .  .     238 


The  Barbizon  School  of  Painters  .         .       34 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 

AUUANGED  ACCOKD1XG  TO  SCHOOLS 

PACE 

Italian. 

BKI.I.IXI  (1428-1510)           .         .     An  Angel     ....  79 

BOTTICKLLI  (1449-1510)     .         .     Madonna  of  the  Louvre        .  09 

KAI>IIAI;L  (1483-1520)         .         .     Madonna  of  the  Chair          .  83 

ANDKKA  DI;I.  SAKTO  (1488-1531)  Madonna  of  the  Sack  .  .  89 
CouuKiioio  (1494-1534)  .  .  Holy  Night  .  .  .  .59 
SALVATOK  KOSA  (1015-1073)  .  Diogenes  in  Search  of  an 

Honest  Man      •         .         .93 

PASSIM  (1832-         )  .         .         .A  Street  Scene     .          ,         .  235 

Frc  ii  <•/!. 

MMK  VKJKK-LK  I?I;IN  (1755-1842)  Mother  and  Child        Frontispiece 

MII.I.KT  (1814-1875)  .         .          .     Shepherdess  Knitting  .         .  31 

Feeding  her  Birds         .         .  135 

Feeding  the  Hens          .          .  1S9 

Woman  Churning        .         ,  201 

DrrijK  (1812-1889)    .         .          .     The  Balloon          ...  27 

In  the  ( >pen  Country   . 
COKOT  (179(5-1875)     .          .         .      Lake  at  Ville  d'Avray 

The  Willows         .         .         .  isi 

DIAX  (1S08-1870')        .          .         .     Spring 191 

TKOVON  (1SHI-1S05)  .          .          .      The  Return  to  the  Farm       .  23 

BKKTON  (1827-                      .          .     Song  of  the  Lark          .         .  203 

ADAM  (1801-18(55)      .          .          .      The  Cat   Family   .                    .  9 

KOSA  BOMIKIK  (1822-1899)        .      Brittany  Sheep     .  41 

xvii 


XViii  LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 

French 

L'HERMITTE  (1844-        )    .         .     Harvest  Time  .     . 

(JEOFFKOV  .....     Primary  School  in  Brittany 


BASTIEX-LEI-AOE  (1848-1884)    . 

Jeanne  d'Arc 

.     149 

The  Hay  Harvest 

21 

REXOI  K  (1845-         ) 

Helping  Hand 

.     207 

l)A<;XAX-Boi  VERET   (1852-             ) 

Madonna  and  Child     . 

.       (55 

LEROLLE     ..... 

Arrival  of  the  Shepherds 

57 

The  Shepherdess 

.       48 

BASHKIRTSEFF  (1860-1884) 

The  Meeting 

.     161 

Flemish. 

RI-HEXS  (1577-1640)  . 

Portrait  of  Himself 

.     119 

VAX  DVCK  (1599-1641)       . 

Baby  Stuart 

.     128 

Dutch. 

REMUKAXDT  (1607-1669)    . 

Old  Woman 

.     118 

MAES  (1682-1698)       .          .          . 

The  Spinner 

.       45 

PAIL  POTTER  (1625-1(554) 

The  Young  'Hull  . 

.     209 

ISRAELS  (1^24-         )  . 

A  Mother's  Care 

.     165 

Spanish. 

VEI  v«jrF/  (1599  1660)      . 

JEsop  . 

49 

Prince  Balthasar 

99 

MIRILLO  (1617-1682) 

Holy  Family 

.       71 

The  Melon  Eaters 

.     289 

FOISTIXY  (1888-1874) 

Arab  at  Prayer    . 

.     219 

German. 

RICIITER  (18-28-1  884) 

Queen  Louise 

.     147 

Sen  R  EVER  (182K-         ) 

The  Kabyl    . 

.).;•> 

IIoEeKER    (1854-             ) 

(iirl  with  Cat 

11 

XlIiER 

September   . 

.       15 

LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS  xix 


English, 

SIH    JOSH i A    HKVNOI.DS    (172:3- 

1792) Penelope  Boothby  .  .127 

COXSTAHI.I:  (177(5-1^57)      .         .  Dedham  Mill        .  .  .     18:5 

LANDSKEK  (1802-187:5)        .         .  Tlie        Shepherd's  Chief 

Mourner  .         .  .  .141 

BorfiiiTOx  (18:54-         )       .         .  Pilgrim  Kxiles      .  .  .51 

Japanese, 

OUTA.MAHO  (1754-180:5)      .         .  Ill  the  Uyeno  Park  .  „     227 


PRACTICAL   SUGGESTIONS 

/3~/2  3 

A  <;oon  background  for  pictures  and  l)its  of  statuary  is 
essential.  Fortunately,  in  modern  sehoolhouses  the  Avails 
are  most  frequently  painted  a  cream  color,  which  not  only 
harmonizes  well  with  the  usually  yello\v  woodwork,  but  also 
sets  off  the  pictures  to  the  greatest  advantage. 

Hut  unless  some  one  prevents  it  beforehand,  or  cures  it 
later,  the  ventilators  and  registers  will  make  ugly  dark 
areas  on  the  light  walls,  staring  the  less  conspicuous  pic- 
tures out  of  countenance.  It  is  a  simple  matter,  however, 
to  paint  both  ventilators  and  registers  the  same  tint  as  the 
walls  themselves. 

With  regard  to  the  pictures,  two  externals  arc  essential  :  — 

1.    That  they  shall  be  large. 

-.    That  they  shall  be  suitably  framed. 

It  is  a  great  temptation  to  buy  four  small  pictures  rather 
than  one  large  one.  If  you  are  buving  them  for  \  our  own 
room,  then  perhaps  the  choice  could  be  defended.  I  Jut 
in  a  schoolroom,  which  is  a  place  for  studv.  for  work,  the 
dignity  which  comes  from  si/.e  counts  for  more  than  varietv. 
Then,  too.  the  children  remain  in  the  room  but  a  year  at 
most.  Let  them  carrv  awav  with  them  the  deep  abiding 
remembrance  of  a  very  few  large  pictures  well  hung. 


xxii  PRACTICAL   SUGGESTIONS 

Large  pictures  for  the  schoolroom  may  be  good  for  the 
purpose,  and  yet  not  too  expensive.  From  the  Prang  Edu- 
cational Company,  New  York,  Boston,  and  Chicago ;  from 
W.  H.  Pierce  and  Company,  352  "Washington  Street,  Bos- 
ton ;  from  A.  W.  Elson  and  Company,  146  Oliver  Street, 
Boston ;  and  from  the  Perry  Picture  Company,  Maiden, 
Massachusetts,  may  be  obtained  reproductions  of  the  great 
works  of  old  and  new  masters,  which  will  cost  when  framed 
from  three  dollars  up. 

Framing.  —  Plain  moulding  with  no  ornate  projections 
to  catch  the  dust  and  worry  the  eye  is  a  safe  choice.  Yery 
Avide  mats  and  frames  are  out  of  place  in  the  schoolroom. 
The  usual  rule  for  color  is  that  the  frame  should  correspond 
to  the  middle  tone  of  the  picture.  In  the  long  run  inex- 
pensive oak,  ash,  or  birch  frames  will  be  the  most  satis- 
factory. 

Small  pictures  have  their  value,  and  should  be  given 
from  time  to  time  a  temporary  place  on  the  Avails.  When, 
for  instance,  the  children  are  studying  the  early  colonial 
history  of  our  own  country,  Avhat  could  be  better  than  a 
line,  or  two  lines,  on  the  level  of  the  children's  eyes,  of  the 
series  of  pictures  which  so  graphically  illustrate  the  condi- 
tions and  facts  of  the  settlement  of  Massachusetts,  viz.,  the 
series  by  Bonghton,  and  the  corresponding  pictures  by 
Weir  and  Rothermel. 

An  excellent  Avay  to  keep  these  permanently  is  to  passe- 
jxd'tont  them. 

The  best  French  glass  can  be  bought  in  quantity  (ninety 
panes),  size  S  x  1<>,  for  three  cents  a  pane.  For  rive  cents 
may  be  purchased  a  sheet  of  black  alligator  paper,  Avhich 


PRACTICAL   SUGGESTIONS  xxiii 

makes  an  excellent  binding.  Dennison's  gummed  suspen- 
sion eyes  cost  ten  cents  for  a  box  of  twenty-five. 

The  only  other  essentials  are  paste,  time,  and  a  modicum 
of  manual  dexterity. 

Gray  photographic  mounts,  8  x  10  inches,  and  costing 
fifteen  cents  a  do/en,  are  great  time-savers,  and  greatly 
enhance  the  beauty  of  the  print. 

Given  these  materials,  proceed  as  follows : 1  cut  away 
•neatly  all  the  white  margin  of  the  print;  place  the  trimmed 
picture  exactly  in  the  middle  of  the.  mount,  and  with  a 
pencil  lightly  indicate  this  location;  cover  the  back  of  the 
print  with  paste ;  quickly  press  it  down,  and  put  under  a 
book  to  dry. 

Cut  the  binding  paper  into  strips  an  inch  wide.  Cut 
these  again  into  strips  ten  inches  long,  and  also  into  strips 
a  trifle  longer  than  eight  inches.  Cut  off  the  corners  of  the 
latter  at  an  angle  of  forty-live  degrees.  Paste  these  for 
half  their  width  on  the  glass.  Clean  the  glass,  particu- 
larly the  inside.  Place  the  mounted  picture  face  down, 
and  paste  the  free  parts  of  the  binding  [taper  do\vn.  On 
the  middle  of  the  back  glue  the  suspension  rings.  When 
the  binding  has  become  quite  dry,  with  a  sharp  penknife 
and  ruler  make  the  edges  true. 

Calendars.  —  This  is  an  excellent  Avay  to  use  the  smaller 
pictures.  The  calendar  pad  costs  but  a  few  cents.  "Rem- 
brandt mounts,"  <S  x  10  inches,  make  the  most  convenient 
mount.  On  each  of  these  paste  an  appropriate  picture. 
l>elow  the  picture  fasten  the  leaf  for  the  month  on  the  cal- 

1  Set  also  7/</>-/if/-'.s  Jimim!  T«I>1>'.  vol.  1  (jit'W    scries),  p.  L\Si'. 


xxiv  PRACTICAL    SUGGESTIONS 

endar.      After  pressing  the  mounts  —  always  an  essential 
when  paste  is  used  —  eyelet  them  and  fasten  them  together. 
A  most  effective  Millet   calendar  may  be  made  in  this 
way  :  - 

Use  a  portrait  of  Millet  for  the  cover  mount,  then  for 
each  month  choose  the  following  appropriate  pictures  :  — 

January,  Girl  Spinning.  'July,  The  Gleaners. 

February,  Woman  Churning.  August,         The  Angelus. 

March,  Labor.  September,  The  Rainbow. 

April,  Potato  Planting.  October,         Feeding  the  liens. 

May,  The  Sower.  November,    The  Wood-Chopper. 

June,  Going  to  Work.  December,     Mother  and  Child. 

The  mounts  will  cost  fifty  cents  a  dozen,  the  pictures  a 
cent  each,  and  cord,  eyelets,  and  calendar  pad  will  make 
the  total  not  far  from  seventy-five  cents.  But  the  result 
is  more  valuable.  Most  teachers  will  buy  another  pad  the 
next  year  to  paste  over  the  only  useless  part  of  the  cal- 
endar, that  it  may  again  send  its  influence  out  over  the 
children. 

For  a  like  purpose,  the  pictures  of  Rosa  Bonheur,  Breton, 
Dupre,  Corot,  lend  themselves  with  equal  appropriateness 
to  the  change  of  seasons.  Equally  interesting  calendars 
may  be  made  from  the.  pictures  of  Botticelli,  Raphael,  Ru- 
bens. Van  Dyck,  Velasquez.  Murillo.  Rembrandt,  Sir  Joshua 
Reynolds,  and  Burne-Jones,  to  mention  the  better  known 
and  more  popular  artists  only. 

Now  as  to  the  course.  The  table  of  contents  for  the 
volume  will  show  that  there  are  here  included  nearly  all  the 
pictures  recommended  by  the  Massachusetts  .State  Director 


PRACTICAL   SUGGESTIONS  xxv 

of  Drawing,  Mr.  Bailey,  and  the  Boston  Director,  Mr.  Hop- 
kins. There  are  also  so  many  others  included  that,  if  one 
chooses,  she  can,  from  the  material  here  given,  make  her 
own  course,  with  a  suitable  picture  for  each  month  of  the 
school  year. 

For  the  benefit  of  those  who  have  not  the  data  at  hand, 
I  append  the  two  courses  of  which  I  have  spoken:  — 

1st.  Course  in  Picture  Study  prepared  by  Henry  Turner 
Bailey,  State  Director  of  Drawing,  Massachusetts,  for  the 
Primary  (Jrades. 

Grade  I : 
THE  SICK  MONKEY          .... 

THE  PET  P.IKD 

HOLY  NIGHT 

THE  NURSERY 

Grade  II: 
A  FASCINATING  TALE     .         .  Mine.  Rotnti-r  (sec  Part  II,  p.  l'J'5.) 

A   HELPING   HAND Jli-iinuf,  p.  'J07. 

HOLY  FAMILY  .......       Jlnbenx, — 

Grade  III : 
CAN'T  Tor  TALK     .......       llnlmcn, — 

FEEDING   HER    BIRDS        ......     Milhi.  p.  1:5.1. 

SISTINE  MADONNA   ....     Raiiliitrl,  (sec  Part  II,  p.  ss._) 

Grade  IV: 
A    KABYL  ...... 

PENELOPE   BOOTH KY         .... 

MADONNA   AND  CHILD     .... 

Grade  V : 

THE  SHEPHERDESS.         ......      l.in>l!>.  p.  |:>. 

DIOGENES  IN  SEARCH  OE  AN  HONEST  MAN  .  Sn/r<itnr  Rn.tn.  p.  !»:>. 
HOLY  FAMILY Mnri//<>,  p.  71. 


XXvi  PRACTICAL   SUGGESTIONS 

2d.  Course  in  Picture  Study  prepared  by  James  Fred- 
erick Hopkins,  Director  of  Drawing,  Boston,  for  the 
Primary  Grades. 

Grade  I: 

THE  CAT  FAMILY Adam,  p.  9. 

ARRIVAL  OF  THK  SHEPHERDS        ....     Lerolle,  p.  57. 

BABY  STUART Van  fiyck,  p.  123. 

CARITAS T/tayer, 

Grade  II: 

GIRL  WITH  CAT Hoecker,  p.  11. 

HOLY  NIGHT Correggio,  p.  59. 

PRINCE  BALTHASAK Velasquez,  p.  99. 

FRIGHTENED  BATHER     .         .         .          Mine.  Demont-Breton,  — 
IN  THE  OPEN  COUNTRY Duprc,  p.  199. 

Grade  III : 

SEPTEMBER Ziibf-r,  p.  15. 

MADONNA  AND  CHILD  ....  Dagnan-Bouveret,  p.  65. 
PORTRAIT  OE  AN  OLD  WOMAN  .  .  .  Remlrannl,  p.  11 3. 
MOTHER  AND  CHILD  .  .  .  Vigc'e-Le  Brun,  Frontispiece. 
WOMAN  CHURNING  ......  Millet,  p.  201. 

Grade  IV: 
THE  BALLOON         .......        f)it/>rc,  p.  27. 

REST  IN   FLIGHT     .......          Knaus, 

MADONNA  OF  THE  CHAIR      .....     J'tijilmel,  p.  83. 

PILGRIM    KXII.KS      .......  J>i>ur/Iiton,  p.  51. 

THK  SHEPHERDESS Lerolle,  p.  43. 

Grade  V  : 

SHEPHEICDESS  KNITTING  .....  Millet,  p.  31. 
SISTINE  MADONNA  ....  Raphael,  Tart  II.  p.  SS. 

VllSGIN     UNDER     THE     Al'PLE     TREE  .  .  .  linliUlH,   — 

(^UEEX    LOUISE         .......    liiclitir.  ]i.  1 17. 

S.OXG  OK   THE   LAKK        ...,„.     JJrelon,  p.  2M3. 


PRACTICAL   SUGGESTIONS  xxvii 

To  those  who  prefer  to  make  their  own  course,  T  would 
suggest  a  picture  each  month,  selecting  always  something 
appropriate  to  the  season,  for  example,  a  scene  reminiscent 
of  vacation  sights,  or  a  summer  picture  from  another  land. 

Perhaps  for  those  who  have  left  their  mothers  for  the 
first  time,  a  Madonna,  or  to  put  them  even  more  at  ease,  a 
picture  of  some  of  their  pets  at  home,  would  be  suitable  for 
September.  For  October,  show  them  a  harvest  picture. 
November  may  be  celebrated  with  one  of  P>oughton's  re- 
minders of  the  Pilgrims  and  Thanksgiving,  or  with  some- 
thing suggestive  of  preparation  for  winter.  In  December 
come  the  Madonnas.  Then  devote  the  winter  months  to 
the  study  of  the  old  masters.  With  the  end  of  winter 
comes  appropriately  enough  the  study  of  some  of  the  mod- 
ern masters.  In  the  spring  take  up  the  study  of  some  of 
the  outdoor  scenes  which  belong  to  this  season,  while  in  the 
summer  months  suitable  outdoor  scenes,  or,  better  still, 
pictures  of  summer  in  distant  lands. 

More  information  has  been  given  to  the  teacher  in  this 
little  volume  than  she  can  possibly  impart  to  her  pupils, 
even  if  it  were  worth  while.  Moreover,  with  the  aid  of  the 
bibliography  given  for  each  artist  she  can  drink  still  deeper 
from  the  Pierian  spring.  This  is  not  that  she  may  teach 
the  child  more,  but  rather  that  she  may  teach  him  less. 
The  more  thoroughly  one  knows  any  subject,  the  better  is 
one  able  to  pick  out  the  vital  truths,  the  germinal  facts, 
and  reject  for  the  child  the  details,  which,  however  inter- 
esting and  necessary  to  the  teacher's  comprehension,  would 
only  serve  to  confuse,  in  the  child's  mind  the  image  there 
made  by  the  important  thought. 


XXV111 


PRACTICAL   SUGGESTIONS 


In  addition  to  the  special  books  and  articles  referred  to 
later,  the  following  general  works  will  be  found  useful :  — 


HOW    TO    .iriXJK    A    PlCTI/RE        . 

HISTORY  OF  ART 

OUTLINES  OK  THE  HlSTORY  OF  ART 
THK  OLD  MASTERS  AND  THKIR  PICTURES 
MODERN  PAINTERS  AND  THKIR  PAINTINGS 
STORIES  OF  ART  AND  ARTISTS 
ART  AND  CRITICISM          .... 
CONSIDERATIONS  ON  PAINTING 


John  ('.  ran  Dyke. 

Goodyear. 

Wilhelm  Liibke. 
Sarah  Tytler. 
Sarah  Tytlcr. 
J//-.S-.  <  'lenient. 
Theodore  ( 'liilil. 
John  La  Far  ye. 


SEPTEMBER 

(HOME  AXD  SCHOOL) 


SEPTEMBER 

(HOME  AND  SCHOOL) 
MOTHER  AND   CHILD  —  MME.   VIGEE-LE  BRUN1 

FOR    T1IK    TKAC1IKK 

Literature : 

HISTORY  OF   FRF.XCH   PAINTING Vfrannltan 

WOMKN  ARTISTS Mrs.  FAlct 

PORTFOLIO,  vol.  22,  p.  :>i*.S  ;  THK  CATHOLIC  AVoi:u>,  vol.  21), 
p.  707;  TKMPLK  BAR,  vol.  50,  p.  307;  AR<;OSY,  vol.  02,  p.  OOS. 

"A  simple  and  unaffected  group,  charmingly  comi>ose(l. 
The  mother's  features  are  very  refined  and  pretty,  and  the 
eyes  sparkle  with  animation.  .  .  .  Considering  the  date  of 
the  work,  and  the  bad  influence  of  contemporary  taste,  it  is 
remarkable  for  its  excellence.  ...  It  is  a  remarkable  evi- 
dence of  the  fidelity  of  these  portraits  [there  are  two]  that 
although  the  position  of  the  figure  in  each  is  different,  the 
features  and  expression  are  identical.  .  .  .  The  vitality  of 
expression,  both  in  the  mother  and  child,  is  very  remark- 
able."—  Sir  ('hitrlt'x  Eitxtlake. 

Elisabeth  Louise  Yigee-Le  I'run  (1 7.">-lS  11')  was  the 
daughter  of  a  second-rate  portrait  painter.  He  lei't  her 

1  See  Frontispiece. 


4  PICTURE    STUDY 

an  orphan  at  twelve,  but  at  fifteen  she  was  already  an 
excellent  portrait  pai"nter,  and  at  twenty-eight  was  made  a 
full  member  of  the  Royal  Academy.  Her  most  famous 
teachers  were  Greuze  and  Joseph  Yernet. 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  French  Revolution  she  went  to 
Italy  to  live,  and  afterward  to  Austria  and  St.  Petersburg. 
Subsequently  she  lived  also  in  England,  Holland,  and 
Switzerland,  and  in  every  country  great  homage  was  paid 
both  to  the  beautiful  woman  and  the  clever  artist. 

She  was  married  while  still  very  young  to  M.  Le  Brim,  a 
painter,  too,  and  a  large  dealer  in  pictures.  He  was  a  man 
of  wealth,  but  so  dissolute  that  she  was  obliged  to  separate 
from  him,  taking  with  her  her  beautiful  daughter. 

One  of  her  best-known  pictures  is  a  portrait  from  life  of 
Marie  Antoinette  and  her  children,  painted,  of  course,  be- 
fore the  Revolution.  It  so  happened  that  Madame  Le  Brun 
missed  her  appointment  one  day  through  illness.  She  came 
the  next  morning,  but  the  queen  was  just  ready  for  her 
drive.  Finally,  however,  she  laid  aside  her  hat,  saying 
graciously,  "It  is  too  much  for  Madame  Le  Brim  to  lose 
the  trouble  of  coming.''  Madame  Le  Brun  in  her  gratitude 
and  embarrassment  overturned  her  color-box,  whereupon  the 
queen  picked  it  up  for  her,  insisting  that  since  Madame 
Le  Brun  had  been  ill  she  must  not  be  allowed  to 
stoop. 

Charles  Blanc  gives  an  epitome  of  her  history  in  some- 
thing of  the  form  of  the  legend  of  the  sleeping  beauty, 
representing  all  the  fairies  as  gathered  about  her  cradle:  — 

"One  gave  her  beauty,  one  intellect,  and  one  offered  her 
a  pencil  and  palette.  The  fairy  of  marriages,  who  had  not 


MOTHER    AM)    CHILI)  5 

been  called,  said,  •  Jt  is  true  you  will  unfortunately  marry 
M.  Le  Brun,  the  expert  in  pictures,  but  the  fairy  of  travel 
to  console  her,  promised  that  she  should  carry  from  court 
to  court,  from  academy  to  academy,  from  Paris  to  St.  Peters- 
burg, and  from  Rome  to  London,  her  gayety,  her  talent,  and 
her  easel,  before  which  were  to  pose  all  the  sovereigns 
of  Europe,  and  all  the  heads  crowned  by  genius." 

Method.  —  Pictures  such  as  these  serve  to  link  the  school 
and  home,  thus  making  the  little  one,  a  little  strange  at  first, 
perhaps,  feel  at  home  and  contented.  But  even  the  chil- 
dren, who,  at  first,  care  for  the  picture  because  it  represents 
a  mother  holding  close  to  her  the  child  whom  she  loves  and 
who  loves  her,  will,  later,  like  to  know  more  of  the  lovely 
lady  whom  it  represents.  Tell  them,  therefore,  so  much  of 
her  story  as  you  think  will  interest  them.  Show  them,  if 
possible,  the  other  pictures  which  she  painted  of  herself 
and  her  daughter,  and,  perhaps,  of  Marie  Antoinette  and 
the  little  Dauphin. 

This  is  one  of  the  pictures  which  may  be  purchased  large 
enough  for  framing  for  a  very  small  price.  I  have  seen 
passable  prints  -?()x«'M)  inches  for  fifty  cents. 

In  addition  to  the  wall  picture,  which  is  necessary,  if  pos- 
sible secure  smaller  copies  from  some  of  the  now  numerous 
firms  who  make  a  specialty  of  the  cent  picture. 

In  many  schools  the  children  are  allowed  to  buy  the  pic- 
ture later,  and  in  these  same  schools  the  written  reproduction 
by  the  children  of  the  picture  lessons  is  kept  in  book  form 
with  the  pictures  themselves. 

Another  excellent  plan  —  a  better  one.  perhaps  —  is  to 
give  to  the  children  quotations  to  put  with  their  pictures. 


6  PICTURE    STUDY 

For  example,  with  younger  children,  for  this  picture,  the 
following  would  serve  the  purpose  :  — 

The  Lord  could  not  be  everywhere,  so  he  made  mothers. 

Or  this  :  — 

Madonna  in  the  peasant's  hut, 

Madonna  on  the  throne ; 
All  heaven  within  thine  arms  is  shut 
When  thou  dost  claim  thine  own. 

—  Margaret  E.  Sangster. 
Or  this :  - 

There  never  was  a  little  tyke 

But  that  his  mother  loved  him  best. 

—  Eugene  Field. 

Below  the  quotation  the  older  children  might  write  also  a 
brief  account  of  the  artist. 

Just  as  soon  as  it  is  possible,  let  them  have  the  keen 
pleasure  and  great  intellectual  and  artistic  stimulus  of  de- 
ciding which  picture  of  several  they  like  best,  and  why  they 
prefer  it  to  the  others. 

The  teacher  must  remember  that  it  is  impossible  to  force 
into  the  consciousness  of  children  artistic  feeling,  knowl- 
edge, and  wisdom.  Its  development  and  growth  is  from 
within  outward.  Therefore  with  the  somewhat  older  chil- 
dren it  is  not  a  bad  plan  to  let  them  shape  the  course  within 
reasonable  limits.  Show  them  a  number  of  pictures  of  the 
mother  and  child.  ^Madonnas  as  well  as  the  more  domestic 
subjects  of  Madame  Le  Brim.  Rubens,  and  Sir  Joshua  Rey- 
nolds. Put  them  about  the  room.  Then  let  the  children 
choose,  each  for  herself,  which  one  she  wishes  to  keep  on 


MOTHER    AND   CHILD  7 

her  desk  for  a  day.  Give  them  opportunity  to  study  several 
silently. 

When  they  have  thus  had  the  chance  to  form  an  opinion, 
ask  them  which  they  like  best,  and  why.  This  last  word 
oiight  to  be  printed  in  capital  letters.  For  in  picture  study 
as  in  everything  else  it  is  the  very  keystone  of  the  arch. 
To  give  the  children  material  for  intelligent  comparison, 
to  give  them  leisure  to  study  this  and  to  think  out  its 
meaning,  to  put  the  "  why "  to  them  with  the  earnestness 
and  the  emphasis  that  will  enable  them  crystallize  their 
own  thoughts,  and  then  yourself  not  only  to  imderstand 
their  answer  to  this  master  question,  but  also  to  follow 
up  this  real  clew  thus  given  as  to  the  content  and  the 
calibre  of  their  minds,  —  to  do  all  this  is  real  teaching, 
and  a  genuine  education  for  teacher  as  well  as  pupil. 

Take  the  picture  the  most  of  the  pupils  prefer  for  the 
individual  study  of  the  entire  class.  Provide  each  with  a 
copy,  and  if  possible  secure  a  large  copy,  the  largest  and 
best  that  you  can  afford,  for  the  Avails  of  the  schoolroom. 

If  there  is  a  great  and  palpable  difference  in  the  merit 
of  the  pictures,  and  if  the  children  have  not  chosen  the 
best,  it  might  be  worth  while  to  give  them  a  lesson  on 
th\s  best,  and  then  allow  them  again  a  choice. 

But  do  not  let  them  see  that  you  are  striving  to  improve 
their  tastes,  nor  that  there  is  any  merit  in  selecting  one 
picture  rather  than  another.  For  self-conscious  priggish- 
ness  is  even  more  intolerable  in  art  than  in  arithmetic. 


PICTURE   STUDY 


THE   CAT  FA  MIL  Y—  ADAM 

This  charming  picture  by  one  of  the  many  Raphaels  of 
Cats  has  been  recommended  as  a  first  picture  for  a  first 
grade.  The  shyest  child  responds  readily  to  the  kittens, 
for  they  are  so  near  and  dear  to  her.  The  teacher  who  uses 
it  as  it  is  intended  to  be  used,  will  allow  the  children  to  talk 
to  her  freely  of  their  kittens. 

Then,  when  by  these  means  the  bond  of  sympathy  obtains 
between  them,  she  will  question  them  about  these  cats. 
Where  are  the}-  ?  Why  do  you  think  so  ?  .But  is  not  the 
stone  floor  too  cold  for  the  kittens  ?  Why  not  ?  What  is 
the  object  in  the  left-hand  corner  ?  Why  is  it  left  there  ? 
Which  is  the  mother  cat  ?  How  man}'  children  has  she  ? 
What  is  each  doing  ?  Do  you  think  that  these  are  good 
pictures  of  cats?  Why  do  you  think  so?  (See  pp.  xxi, 
it,  (>,  1.) 


10  PICTURE    STUDY 


(URL   WITH  CAT—  HOECKER 

Literature : 

HISTOKY  OK   MonKitN   PAIMINC  .         .         .     Mut/t<>r 
HANS  BKINKKK;  OK,  TIIK  SII.VKU  SKATKS  .     Mary  J\I<ij>ex  Dodge 
TIIK  LAND  OK  PLTCK    .....     Mary  Mapes  Dodge 

WILSON'S  HISTORY  KEADKK,  pp.  72-74. 

Tlie  balls  at  each  side  of  her  head  are  perhaps  of  gold, 
or  at  least  of  silver.  Probably  her  mother  and  grandmother 
wore  them  before  her,  as  her  grandchildren  may  after  her. 

Her  wooden  shoes  are  called  A'/O/H^//,  and  are  usually 
made  from  the  wood  of  the  willow.  She  will  slip  them  off 
when  she  enters  the  house.  Every  Saturday  she  will  scrape 
and  clean  and  scrub  them  with  soap  and  water.  Then  she 
will  put  them  by  the  tire  or  else  out  in  the  sun  to  dry. 

Method.  —  It  would  be  difficult  to  say  what  will  first 
impress  the  children,  the  (ilirc  black  cat.  or  the  charming 
little  ]  hitch  girl  with  her  cap,  her  strange  head  ornaments, 
and  her  wooden  shoes. 

All  of  these  points  are  worthy  of  some  attention.  Tell 
them  of  the  hero  country,  the  "land  of  pluck.''  as  it  is 
often  significantly  called,  with  its  streets  of  water,  its  wind- 
mills (see  -The  Mill."  Kuisdael.  Part  II).  and  its  curious 
customs  and  costumes,  of  which  this  is  an  example. 

Head  to  them  perhaps  some  of  the  stories  in  "'The  Land 
of  Pluck."  or  parts  of  '•  Hans  Urinker." 

(See  ]>.  xxi.  ."»,  (>.  ~.) 


12  PICTURE   STUDY 


PRIMARY  SCHOOL  IN  BRITTANY— QrEQITlB,OZ 

Literature : 
RKVUK.   II.LUSTKEK,  18US ;  SCKIHNKK,  vol.  15.  p.  'J48. 

'•  To  Geoffroy,  painting  means  more  than  securing  color 
effects.  He  cares  for  more  than  the  glow  of  a  kettle,  the 
starch  of  an  apron,  the  pattern  of  lace  work,  the  shimmer 
of  a  dress;  he  is  not  content  with  seeing — lie  thinks  as 
well.  He  is  in  his  element  when  painting  childhood ;  and 
how  he  seizes  upon  the  soul  of  his  model !  The  effect  of 
his  creations  is  like  that  of  an  epic  poem,  and  it  is  all  the 
more  touching  because  he  confines  them  to  little  chicks, 
whose  nests  are  not  downy  and  well-feathered,  but  hard ; 
whose  meals  are  not  always  certain,  and  whose  frail  life  is 
full  of  suffering  and  misfortune." -—Guillemot. 

Jean  (ieoffroy,  one  of  the  greatest  living  painters  of  chil- 
dren, was  born  in  France.  He  was  an  engraver  by  trade, 
but  as  soon  as  he  could  save  money  for  the  journey,  came 
to  Paris  to  study  painting.  From  the  first  he  was  success- 
ful in  selling  his  pictures.  Some  of  his  best  pictures  have 
been  painted  for  schools. 

He  is  no\v  ;i  wealthy  man.  but  by  choice  continues  to  live 
in  one  of  the  suburbs  of  Paris  in  a  plain  little  house,  which 
stands  close  to  the  school  which  has  inspired  so  many  of  his 
pictures.  He  is  said  to  be  shy  except  with  those  whom  he 
knows  well,  and  with  children.  All  the  children  of  the 
neighborhood  love  M.  (Jeoffrov.  for  does  he  not  irive  them 


14  PICTURE    STUDY 

smiles  and  flowers  and  cakes,  and  best  of  all  does  he  not 
put  them  on  canvas  as  large  as  life  and  quite  as  like! 

Method.  —  Of  what  is  this  a  picture  ?  Why  do  you  think 
so?  Is  it  like  your  schoolroom?  How  does  it  differ? 
Look  at  the  children.  How  do  their  clothes  and  shoes 
differ  from  yours  or  the  teacher's?  How  many  classes  of 
children  are  there  ?  What  is  each  doing?  Do  you  like  the 
picture  ?  Why  ?  (See  also  pp.  xxi,  5,  0,  7.) 


SEPTEMHKR  —  ZUBEE, 
Literature : 

Tin-:  OAK.  STOIMKS  01-    mi:  TI:KKS          .         .         .  .!//•>•.  Di/iton 

OAK    AND   TIII:   VIM:         .         .         .         .         .         .  Itmji-ne  Field 

LAST  I)I;KAM  OF  TIII-:  OLD  OAK      ....  Aixlernen 

Tin-:  OAK Lowell 

Ziiber  is  a  modern  artist  whose  pictures  are  mostly  in 
private  galleries. 

Method.  —  Of  what  is  this  a  picture?  What  trees  are 
these?  How  do  you  know?  Why  is  it  called  "Septem- 
ber" ?  (See  pp.  xxi.  r>}  0,  7.) 


OCTOBER 

(N.VITKK) 


OCTOBER 

(NATURE) 

THE  HAY  HARVEST—  JULES  BASTIEN-LEPAGE 

For  literature  and  biography  of  the  artist  see  p.  118. 

"  In  the  Scilon  of  this  year  [1878]  a  sensation  was  made 
by  a  work  of  such  truth  and  poetry  as  had  not  been  seen 
since  Millet;  this  was  the  ••  Hay  Harvest."  It  is  noon.  The 
June  sun  throws  its  heavy  beams  over  the  mown  meadows. 
The  ground  rises  slowly  to  a  boundless  horizon,  where  a  tree 
emerges  here  and  there,  standing  motionless  against  tin- 
brilliant  sky.  The  gray  and  green  of  these  great  plains — 
it  is  as  if  the  weariness  of  many  toilsome  miles  rose  out  of 
them  —  weighed  heavily  upon  one.  and  created  a  sense  of 
forsaken  loneliness.  Only  two  beings,  a  pair  of  day  labor- 
ers, break  the  wide  level  scorched  b\  a  quivering,  continual 
bla/e  of  light.  They  have1  had  their  midday  meal,  and  the 
basket  is  lying  near  them  upon  the  ground.  The  man  has 
now  lain  down  to  sleep  upon  a  heap  of  hay.  with  his  hat 

19 


20  PICTURE   STUDY 

tilted  over  his  eyes.  But  the  woman  sits  dreaming,  tired 
with  the  long  hours  of  work,  dazzled  with  the  glare  of  the 
sun,  and  overpowered  by  the  odor  of  the  hay  and  the  sultri- 
ness of  noon.  She  does  not  know  the  drift  of  her  thought; 
nature  is  working  upon  her,  and  she  has  feelings  which  she 
scarcely  understands  herself.  She  is  sunburnt  and  ugly, 
and  her  head  is  square  and  heavy,  and  yet  there  lies  a  world 
of  sublime  and  mystical  poetry  in  her  dull,  dreamy  eyes, 
gazing  into  a  mysterious  horizon."  -  —  Richard  Mnther. 

Method. — AYho  is  the  woman?  What  is  she  doing? 
What  was  she  doing:'  How  do  you  know  who  was  helping 
her?  What  is  he  doing  ?  Why?  What  time  of  the  year? 
Of  the  day?  (See  pp.  xxi,  5,  (!,  7.) 


PICTURE    STUDY 


RETURX  TO   THE  FARM— 

Literature : 
PAINTERS  OF  BARIU/ON.  vol.  II.          Mollett  (Great  Artist  Series) 

HISTORY  OF  MODERN  PAINTING Mutlicr 

HISTORY  OF  FRENCH   PAINTING Stranahan 

MODERN   FRENCH  MASTERS  .         .     edited  l>y  ./.  ('.  ran  Dyke 

ART  JOURNAL,  vol.  -!.">,  p.  '2:2. 

Constant  Troyon  (1810-1805)  began  his  artistic  life  in 
the  porcelain  factory  at  Sevres.  The  teaching  that  he  there 
received  in  design  and  decoration  was  his  chief  art  instruc- 
tion. Moreover,  he  was  enabled  by  this  trade  to  paint  pic- 
tures quite  irrespective  of  popular  demand,  since  he  was 
not  dependent  on  them  for  his  daily  bread.  Nevertheless, 
his  paintings  were  greatly  in  demand,  and  by  means  of  them, 
before  his  death,  he  accumulated  a  fortune. 

See  p.  34  for  an  account  of  the  Barbizon  school. 

Method.  —  Why  is  this  picture  called  the  ""Return  to  the 
Farm  "?  What  animals  do  you  see  '.'  "\Yhat  has  each  been 
doing?  AVhat  will  each  do  when  it  reaches  home?  "Which 
group  do  you  like  best?  Why? 


•24  PICTURE    STUDY 

HARVEST  TIME  —  LEON  AUGUSTINE  L'HEKMITTE 
Literature : 

IllSTOHY   OF  MoDKKN    PAIXTIXd Mil/her 

HISTORY  OF  FKKXCH  PAIXTIXI;     .....     Strnnafinn 
AIM  .loriiXAi..  vol.  ;5S.  p.  :>f><i  ;   AIMIST.  vol.  2-').  p.  _!1. 

Leon  Augustine  L'Hermitte  (1<S44-  )  is  the  son  of  a 
French  peasant.  He  worked  in  the  fields  himself,  and  there- 
fore his  pictures  represent  a  life  that  he  knows  thoroughly. 
As  Stranahan  says,  he  paints  the  callous  hands  and  sun- 
burned necks  of  labor  in  attitudes  and  gestures  of  simplicity 
and  grace  in  a  style  less  austere  and  more  varied  than 
Millet's,  and  as  villagers  rather  than  peasants.  He  has  a 
studio  in  Paris,  but  the  greater  portion  of  his  time  is  spent 
in  the  village  in  which  he  was  born,  painting  in  the  great 
glass  studio  which  he  built  for  himself  in  his  father's 
garden. 

Method  (see  pp.  xxi,  5,  (>,  7).  —  Of  what  is  this  a  picture? 
How  many  harvesters  do  you  see?  How  many  men? 
How  many  women?  What  has  the  man  in  the  foreground 
in  his  hand  ?  The  woman  back  of  him  ?  Why  this  dif- 
ference ?  What  is  the  woman  in  front  of  him  doing? 
How  do  you  know?  'What  are  they  harvesting?1  How 
do  they  do  this  work  in  this  country  now  ?  What  time  of 
the  year  is  it  ?  'What  time  of  the  day  ?  Why  do  you 
think  so  ?  Which  figure  do  you  like  best  ?  "Why  ? 

1  Millet,  wheat,  or  perhaps  rye.  \o  other  ,u'rain  is  as  lii^h.  The 
larii'e  heads  would  seem  to  indicate  millet. 


26  PICTURE  STUDY 

THE  BALLOON—  DUPRE 

Literature : 

HISTORY  OF  MODERN  PAINTING        .         .         .    Muther 
HISTORY  OF  FRENCH  PAINTING         .         .         .    Stranahan 
PAINTKRS  OF  BARBIZON     .         .         .  Moflett  (Great  Artist  Series) 

MAGAZINE  OF  ART,  vol.  1'J,  p.  45;  ART  JOURNAL,  vol.  42,  p.  186. 
(See  also  p.  -54,  THE  BARIJI/ON  SCHOOL. ) 
SONGS  OF  LAHOR        ......     Wltittier 

UNDER  THE  WILLOWS        .....    Lon-rll 

IN  SUMMER  TIME        ......     Thomns  P.  Collier 

IN  HARVEST  TIME,  from  "  Lilliput  Levee." 

Sensier,  the  biographer  of  Millet,  says  of  Dupre  that 
while  he  did  not,  indeed,  introduce  fresh  life  into  the  art 
world  when  he  led  the  way  into  pastures,  farms,  and  fields, 
the  quiet  forest  or  the  peasant  hut,  his  compositions  are 
always  quiet  and  pastoral  pictures  of  the  peace  of  a  coun- 
try life. 

He  speaks  particularly  of  what  is  better  illustrated  in  the 
picture,  '•  In  the  Open  Country/'  of  his  cows  chewing  the 
cud,  his  horses  grazing,  with  fluttering  manes,  among  the  fat 
herbage,  all  dwelling  in  pleasant  pastures  and  at  peace  with 
man.  Both  of  these  pictures  illustrate  what  Sensier  calls 
wholesome  and  attractive  art.  that  seemed  to  fill  the  mind 
with  memories  of  our  peasant  nurses. 

Jules  Dupre  (1812-1889).  This  French  painter  received 
no  education  after  his  twelfth  year.  His  father  was  very 
poor,  and  he  helped  to  eke  out  the  family  income  by  work- 
ing in  a  porcelain  factory. 

After  a  time  Dupre  came  to  Paris.  While  there  he  met 
Cabat,  who  was  just  his  own  age.  and  whom  he  had  known 


28 

as  a  boy.  <'al»at  showed  him  over  the  Louvre,  ami  Dupre 
resolved  to  become  a  landscape  painter. 

He  made  one  of  a  band  of  apprentices  and  workmen  \vho 
went  every  Sunday  to  the  Louvre  and  then  strolled  along 
the  banks  of  the  Seine,  dreaming  of  the  beauties  that  there 
unfolded  themselves  and  which  they  longed  to  reproduce. 
On  Monday  they  returned  to  their  work,  but  they  drew  on 
the  bottoms  of  plates  what  they  had  seen  on  their  one 
happy  day.  Many  of  these  apprentices  became  famous 
painters. 

Dupre  sold  some  of  his  studies  to  an  old  curiosity  man, 
and  managed  to  live  on  the  small  income  that  these  brought 
in  until  at  last  he  had  the  good  fortune  to  fall  in  with  a 
real  Maecenas,  a  marquis,  who  not  only  bought  all  that  he 
had  in  sketches  but  ordered  a  picture. 

For  years  a  romantic  friendship  existed  between  Rous- 
seau (see  Part  II)  and  himself.  They  not  only  lived  and 
travelled  together,  but  each  absolutely  refused  to  accept 
any  invitation  which  excluded  the  other.  15ut  an  unfor- 
tunate quarrel  terminated  the  friendship. 

After  the  Franco-Prussian  War  he  lived  by  himself  in  a 
small  fishing  village.  Later  he  migrated  to  Uarbizon  (see 
p.  -U)  and  died  there. 

Method  (see  pp.  xxi.  .").(>,  7).  —  How  many  figures  are  there 
in  the  picture '.'  What  is  each  doing  '.'  Why'.'  <  'an  you  see 
any  indication  of  the  work  of  other  people  or  of  these  same 
haymakers  earlier  in  the  day  '.'  \Yhy  is  the  hay  in  hay- 
cocks 7  What  kind  of  trees  do  you  see  in  the  background 
[Lombard}*  poplars]'.'  Could  this  be  an  American  scene'.' 
\Vhv  not  '.' 


SHEPHERDESS    KNITTING  20 

If  these  last  questions  are  asked,  it  certainly  ought  to  be 
made  clear  to  the  children  that,  after  all,  labor  in  the  field  is 
much  more  to  be  desired,  even  by  women,  than  indoor  work, 
and  that  the  lot  of  the  French  peasant  is  not  worse  than 
that  of  her  American  sister  of  the  same  rank  in  life. 

X  ILK  I'll K 1U) A'.S'.v    KXI  TT1XU  —  MILLET 

Literature : 
HISTORY  OK  MODK.RN   I'AINTINI;   .....         .)/////,</• 

HISTORY  OK   FRKXCH   I'AIXTIXC;     .....    Stroimlmn 

MODKRX  FRKXCH  MASTKRS  .         .         .  Kdited  l>y  ./.  (.'.  run  I )>//<•>• 
JKAX   FRANCOIS  MILLKT,   I'KASAXT   AND   PAIXTKR       .         Saisirr 
JKAX  FRANCOIS  MII.I.KT        ....  ,lu!in  ( 'miirrii/lit 

PAINTKRS  OK  HAKIM/OX,  vol.  1.       .        Mnl/e/t  ((Jivat  Artist  Series) 

ART  JOCRXAI.,  vol.  oo,  p.  _!!)!»:  An. ANTIC  MONTHLY,  vol.  :>s. 
]>.  -J.")7;  vol.  DO,  p.  5()ti;  vol.  7!»,  p.  71!»:  CKXTCRY.  May,  lss!): 
MA<;AXINK  OK  ART,  vols.  0.  7,  }'2\  CKXTCRY.  vol.  •_'•">.  p.  oS :  vol. 
•Jo.  p.  o*0;  vol.  If!,  p.  !)('»:  vol.  o.~>.  p.  oOS ;  McCi.CRK.  vol.  (i.  p.  J!i!) : 
SCUIHNKR,  vol.  7.  p.  •")•)!  :  vol.  8.  p.  :>!)<l:  vol.  'JO.  j>p.  7->i'.  SJ."> :  vol. 
°1.  p[>.  101.  IS!),  o!)°:  XATIOX,  vol.  o'J,  ]>.  llfi:  TK.MIM.K  P>AR.  vol. 
Jo.  [i.  f!")0 ;  XINKTKKX  in  CKXTCRY.  vol.  Jl,  p.  Jl!»:  COXTKMI-O- 
RARY.  vol.  L'I),  p.  l.YT  :  LKISCKK  I  loci:,  vol.  ol.  p.  :>  Jo  :  vol.  -Jo.  p.  l."> : 
vol.  :•}!).  p.  KJ-J. 

ft'O'til  (I  rftiitt'iiifXti'nrf/  c/'ifirixtit  /»/  .~\[.  (  'iix/;t</n<i /''/ :  — 
"Let  us  salute  .Millet,"  he  exclaims.  "He  is  a  master 
and  his  shepherdess  is  a  masterpiece.  To  the  right,  to  the 
left,  in  the  background,  toward  all  points  on  the  horixon. 
the  plain  stretches  awav  in  immensity:  passing  bevond 
the  frame  which  borders  it.  The  shepherdess  knits  as 
she  walks,  her  Hock  following  her. 

"  If  you  -would  judge  of  the  value  of  a  work  by  the  depth 


30  PICTURE    STUDY 

of  the  emotion  that  it  excites  within  you,  this  humble  idyl 
must  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  important  pictures  of  the 
Salon. 

"  The  great  artist  has  put  his  Avhole  heart  in  it,  his  whole 
soul.  Those  who  would  accuse  him  of  exaggerating  wil- 
fully, as  it  were,  the  ugliness  of  our  peasants  will  be  satis- 
fied this  time,  for  the  young  shepherdess  has  all  the  beauty 
and  all  the  rustic  grace  which  belong  to  her  social  condi- 
tion and  her  race. 

"  While  this  detail  is  of  importance,  that  which  must  be 
considered  above  all  and  praised  unreservedly  is  the  har- 
mony and  intimate  union  of  each  part  of  this  beautiful  land- 
scape. The  sheep  are  at  home  on  the  country-side  and  the 
shepherdess  belongs  to  the  sheep  as  surely  as  they  belong 
to  her.  Earth  and  sky,  scene  and  figures,  each  calls  up  the 
other,  all  belong  to  each  other,  all  hold  together.  The 
unity  is  so  perfect,  the  impression  resulting  from  it  so 
truthful,  that  the  eye  does  not  even  dream  of  looking  for 
the  methods  by  which  the  result  is  obtained.  The  means 
are  naught.  The  whole  soul  rests  under  the  charm.  Js  not 
this  the  very  height  of  Art?" 

'•Now  and  again  on  a  patch  of  barren  soil  one  can  see 
figures  hoeing  and  digging.  From  time  to  time,  one  will 
rise  and  straighten  his  back  and  wipe  his  forehead  with  the 
back  of  his  hand.  'Thou  shall;  eat  thy  bread  in  the  sweat 
of  thy  brow.'  This  is  not  the  gay  and  jovial  work  that 
some  people  would  make  us  believe  it  is.  but  it  is  to  me 
true  humanity  and  great  poctrv  none  the  less." 

• —  From  n  /i'/ti/f  /'rout  Millet  to  Sender. 


32  PICTURE    STUDY 

'•  For  Millet,  the  man  of  the  soil  is  the  whole  human 
faiuilv.  In  the  farm  laborer  he  sees  the  forces  behind  our 
most  vital  actions,  our  toilings  and  sufferings  —  the  image, 
the  almost  symbolic  figure  of  humanity. 

"  Millet  is,  however,  neither  a  discouraged  nor  a  sad  man. 
He  is  a  laborer  who  is  attached  to  his  field,  ploughs  it,  sows 
it,  and  reaps  it.  Art  is  his  field.  Life  is  his  inspiration  — 
He  loves  nature  with  the  whole  force  of  his  being,  —  and 
when,  before  a  drawing  by  Millet  we  stand  aghast  at  the 
roughness  of  his  hand,  at  the  unusualness  of  the  subject, 
at  the  unexpectedness  of  the  composition,  just  let  time 
do  its  work.  Let  us,  like  the  artist  himself,  look  at  the 
country-side,  the  woods  and  the  sky  ;  let  us  forget  for  a 
moment  our  traditions  and  our  conventionalities,  and  we 
shall  breathe  the  same  vivifying  air  which  animated  Millet 
.  .  .  and  he  \vlio  understands  him  will  say,  'Here  is  a 
painter  who  gives  the  humble  his  rightful  place,  a  poet  who 
exalts  ignored  greatness,  a  good  man  who  encourages  and 
consoles.'"'  —  .S>//.s>V/\ 

••  And  is  not  Millet  a  sort  of  French  Wordsworth,  who  in 
barbarous  Breton  dialect  has  told  us  in  infinitely  touching 
strains  of  the  noble  submission  of  the  peasant's  lot,  his 
unending  labors  and  the  melancholy  solitude  of  the 
country  '.'  "  —  From  Mn<lcrn  J'nintint/.  /»/  (iporyc  3Loor<'. 

Millet  was  the  greatest  of  the  Barbizon  School  of  Painters. 
The  meaning  of  this  familiar  phrase  is  explained  in  the 
following  paragraphs  from  Muther's  "  History  of  Modern 
Painting  "  :  — 

"...   Barbizon.  the   Mecca  of     Modern    Art,   where    the 


SHEPHERDESS    KNITTING  ?>?> 

secrets  of  pay  sage  in  time  were  revealed  to  the  Parisian 
landscape  painters  by  the  nymph  of  Fontainebleau.  .  .  . 

"Barbizon  itself  is  a  small  village  three  miles  to  the  north 
of  Fontainebleau,  and,  according  to  tradition,  founded  by 
robbers  who  formerly  dwelt  in  the  forest.  .  .  .  There  are 
barely  a  hundred  houses  in  the  place :  most  of  them  un- 
twined with  wild  vine,  shut  yi  by  thick  hedges  of  haw- 
thorn, and  have  a  garden  in  front,  where  roses  bloom  amid 
cabbages  and  cauliflowers.  At  nine  o'clock  in  the  evening 
all  Barbizon  is  asleep,  but  before  four  in  the  morning  it 
awakens  once  more  for  work  in  the  fields. 

"...  It  is  reported  that  one  of  David's  pupils  painted  in 
the  forest  of  Fontainebleau  and  lived  in  Barbizon.  The  only 
inn  was  at  that  time  a  barn,  which  the  former  tailor  of  the 
place,  a  man  by  the  name  of  (-Jamie,  turned  into  an  inn  in 
the  year  1823.  Here,  after  18.'!0,  Corot.  Rousseau,  Dia/, 
Brascassat,  and  many  others  alighted  when  they  came  to 
follow  their  studies  in  Barbizon  from  the  spring  to  the 
autumn.  Of  an  evening,  they  clambered  up  to  their  miser- 
able bedroom,  and  fastened  to  the  head  of  the  bed  with 
drawing  pins,  the  studies  made  in  the  course  of  the  day. 
It  was  only  later  that  Fere  Ciipain,  an  old  peasant,  who  had 
begun  life  as  a  shepherd  with  three  francs  a  mouth,  was 
struck  with  the  seasonable  idea  of  buying  in  a  few  acres 
and  building  upon  them  small  houses  to  let  to  painters. 
By  this  enterprise  the  man  became  rich,  and  gradually 
grew  to  be  a  capitalist,  lending  money  to  all.  who.  in  spite 
of  their  standing  as  celebrated  Parisian  artists,  did  not 
enjoy  the  blessings  of  fortune.  But  the  general  place  of 
assembly  was  still  the  old  barn  employed  in  (.Jamie's 


34  PICTURE    STUDY 

establishment,  and  in  the  course  of  years  its  walls  were 
covered. 

"  The  peculiarity  of  all  these  masters  .  .  .  consists  pre- 
cisely in  this  :  they  never  represented  actual  nature  in 
the  manner  of  photography,  but  freely  painted  their  own 
moods  from  memory,  just  as  Goethe  .  .  .  instead  of  elabo- 
rating a  prosaic  description  of  the  Kikelliahn  Avrote  the 
verses  "  Ueber  alien  Wipfeln  ist  Huh.''  .  .  .  The  works  of 
the  Fontainebleau  artists  are  Goethe-like  poems  of  nature 
in  pigments.  ...  A  landscape  was  not  for  them  a  piece  of 
scenery,  but  a  condition  of  soul  .  .  .  and  thus  they  fath- 
omed art  to  its  profoundest  depths.  Their  works  were 
fragrant  poems  sprung  from  moods  of  spirit  which  had 
arisen  in  them  during  a  walk  in  the  forest. 

Literature  for  the  Barbizon  School  of  Painters  : 
HISTORY  OF  MODKKN  PAINTING     .....      Mnlln-r 

HlSTOHY  OF    FlJKNCII    PAINTING        .....        StrdlXtltlin 

('ONTKMI'OIJAKY    FuF.M  II    1(A  I  N  IKIIS.      IMAGINATION 
IN  LANDSCAI-K  PAINTING.    LANDSCAIM:  PAINTING 

IN     FltANCK         ........        Ilinnf-rtotl 

TIIF.    liAitm/.ON  SCHOOL  or    PAINTKUS         .         .         .      T/ioiimon 
AI:T  .IOCKNAL.  vol.  ['•}.  ]>.  '2*3  ;  vol.  4*.  p.  Ill;   SCIMHNKI:.  vol.  7. 


Jean-Francois  Millet  (1S14-1S7.T)  was  the  son  of  poor 
French  peasants.  His  father  was  a  man  of  beautiful  char- 
acter, a  natural  musician,  and  a  lover  of  nature.  He  said  to 
his  son  often.  '•  Look  at  that  tree,  how  large  and  beautiful  : 
it  is  as  beautiful  as  a  flower  ;  "  or  "  See  !  That  house,  buried 
bv  the  field  is  urood  :  it  seems  to  me  that  it  ought  to  be 


SHEPHERDESS    KXITTIXG  35 

drawn  that  way."  He  tried  sometimes  to  model  in  clay 
or  to  carve  a  bit  of  wood.  But  he  died  ignorant  of  his 
own  worth  and  gifts. 

Millet's  grandmother  named  him  Jean  for  his  father, 
and  Francois  for  that  charming  saint.  Francis  of  Assisi, 
whom  even  the  birds  loved  and  to  whom  they  talked.  She 
loved  her  little  godson  and  grandson,  rocking,  caring  for 
him,  and  singing  to  him  all  day  long.  In  the  morning  she 
wakened  him  gently  with,  "  Wake  up,  my  little  one ;  you 
do  not  know  how  long  the  birds  have  been  singing  the 
glory  of  God  !  " 

The  little  Millet  was  a  handsome,  hearty,  strong  lad, 
quite  able  to  hold  his  own  against  the  other  boys  both 
with  his  fists  and  his  head.  The  clergyman  of  the  village 
taught  him  Latin  for  the  pleasure  of  it,  and  he  studied 
it  for  the  same  reason. 

His  father  sympathized  with  his  cra/.e  for  drawing  and 
helped  him  to  find  his  first  master.  'Finally,  .Millet  went 
to  Paris  and  there  entered  the  studio  of  I 'aid  Delaroche. 
The  city  students  could  not  understand  him.  They  nick- 
named him  the  "  .Man  of  the  Woods,"  but  they  soon  learned 
that  he  could  draw.  "  It  is  easy  to  see  that  you  have 
painted  a  great  deal,''  said  Delaroche  to  him.  I>ut  he 
had  never  touched  a  brush  before. 

Nevertheless  he  had  a  hard  struggle  to  get  along.  His 
pictures  did  not  sell.  He  was  ready  to  paint  signboards 
even,  but  the  market  for  them  was  not  inexhaustible.  At 
last  he  moved  from  Paris  to  Barbizon,  where  he  lived 
and  worked  for  the  rest  of  his  life. 

At  first  a  small  peasant  house  with  three  rooms  answered 


:j<;  PICTURE    STl'DV 

for  liis  wife  and  three  children.  Hut  as  the  family  in- 
creased, the  house  was  lengthened,  and  a  studio,  wash-house, 
and  chicken-yard  built  in  the  garden. 

"He  had  two  occupations,"  writes  Sensier,  "in  the 
morning  he  dug  or  planted,  sowed  or  reaped;  after  lunch  lie 
went  into  the  low,  dark  room  called  a  studio.  .  .  .  His  first 
vision  was  a  Bible  subject,  'Ruth  and  Boa/.,  which  lie  drew 
on  the  wall  in  crayon." 

Here  for  years  he  was  wretchedly  poor.  "  Hut,"  said  he, 
'•let  no  one  think  that  he  can  force  me  to  prettify  my 
types;  I  would  rather  do  nothing  than  express  myself 
feebly.  Give  me  signboards  to  paint:  give  me  yards  of 
canvas  to  cover  by  the  day  like  a  house-painter,  but  let 
me  imagine  and  execute  my  own  work  in  my  own  way.'" 

Hut  recognition  came  to  him  at  last  and  in  his  own 
lifetime.  The  knowledge  of  him  and  reverence  and  love 
for  his  teaching  have  been  increasing  ever  since  his  death. 

Method.  —  What  time  of  the  year'.'  \\ 'hy  ?  What  time 
of  day  ?  Why'.'  What  is  the  shepherdess  doing  ?  Why? 
Why  does  she  not  stay  at  home  to  knit'.'  How  is  she 
clothed?  J)oes  she  look  happy?  Who  is  helping  her  to 
tend  the  sheep?  Who  painted  the  picture?  Tell  the 
children  something  of  his  life,  particularly  his  childhood. 
Show  them  his  pictures.  Arrange  for  a  loan  exhibition  of 
his  pictures.  Ask  which  they  like  best  and  why.  (See 
pp.  xxi.  r>.  (I.  7.) 


NOVEMBER 

PRKPAHATIOX   FOR   WINTKI:  AND  TI 


NOVEMBER 

(PREPARATION     FOR    WlXTER    AXO    TlIAXKSfHVIXG) 
BRITTANY  SHEEP—  KWK  BONHEUR 


Literature  : 

HISTORY  OF  MODKRX  PAIXTIXO       ....     Mather 

HISTORY  OK  FRENCH   PAINTIXG        .....  ^tniiuilnni 

ROSA  Box  H  EUR,  UKR   LIKE  AXI>  WORK  .         .         .      lienc'-Pei/rol 
LIVKS  OK  GIRLS  WHO  BECAME  FAMOUS  .         .         .     Bolton 
\VOMKN   ARTISTS         .......     .]//>-.  ]•;/!<•( 

EMINKXT  WO.MKX  OK  TIIK  A<;K        ....     Par/tin 

PORTFOLIO,  vol.  (5,  p.  98  ;  MIXSKY,  vol.  11,  p.  5<S;  MAC.A/IXE  OK 
ART,  vol.  5,  p.  !.">;  LIVIXC;  A<;K,  vol.  08,  p.  '->i)7  ;  vol.  (>:».  p.  1J4  : 
CKXTTRY,  vol.  (!,  p.  8:5:!:  LKISTRE  lion:,  vol.  10.  ]».  :{.">!». 

"  Honored  Master  "  is  the  significant  phrase  given  her 
by  the  famous  French  critic,  Jules  Claretie. 

Marie  Eosa  Bonheur  (1  822-1  S!M))  was  the  most  ilistin- 
guished  of  a  family  of  French  artists,  all  of  whom  have 
said  with  pride,  "My  father  taught,  me."  Her  mother, 
too,  was  something  of  a  musician. 

Rosa  Bonheur  used  to  play  truant  from  school  and  spend 
hours  on  her  back  in  the  grass  gazing  at  the  sky.  At  other 
times,  oblivious  of  spectators,  she  drew  what  she  saw  in 
the  smoothed  dust  with  a  stick.  Always  she  loved  best 
to  represent  the  animals  about  her. 


40  PICTURE    STUDY 

She  was  at  first  apprenticed  to  a  milliner,  but  finally 
her  father,  to  her  great  joy,  arranged  that  she  should  go  to 
the  boarding  school  where  he  taught. 

^Nevertheless,  she  was  very  mischievous  in  school. 
Among  other  things,  she  made  striking  caricatures  of  both 
teachers  and  pupils.  These  she  attached  to  thread, 
cementing  one  end  to  the  ceiling  with  small  pellets  of 
bread.  For  this  and  similar  tricks  she  was  punished  by 
being  kept  for  a  time  on  a  diet  of  bread  and  water.  But 
in  spite  of  her  pranks,  she  was  loved  by  all. 

She  was  the  first  woman  to  be  decorated  with  the  Cross 
of  the  Legion  of  Honor.  Eugenie  had  urged  it  in  vain 
upon  Kapoleon  III.  Finally,  taking  advantage  of  his 
absence,  during  which  time  she  was  regent,  she  rode  from 
Fontainebleau  to  Kosa  Bonheur's  home,  surprised  her  at 
her  work,  and  kissed  her.  After  she  had  left  Kosa  found 
the  cross  pinned  to  her  blouse. 

Her  home  is  an  old  chateau,  in  which,  however,  she  has 
made  many  changes.  The  chapel  is  now  an  orangery. 
A  new  building  contains  her  stable  on  the  first  floor  and 
her  studio  on  the  second.  In  this  studio  two  sculptured 
dogs,  life-size,  support  the  chimney.  There  also  may  be 
seen  a  landscape  by  her  father. 

A  writer  in  the  Century  tlms  describes  the  effects  of  a 
ring  of  her  door-bell :  — 

"The  jingle  of  the  bell  is  at  once  echoed  by  the  barking 
of  numerous  dogs;  the  hounds  and  bassets  in  chorus,  the 
grand  St.  Bernard  in  slow  measures  like  the  bass  drum  in 
an  orchestra.  After  the  first  excitement  had  begun  to 
abate,  a  remarkably  small  house  pet,  that  has  been  some- 


42  PICTURE   STUDY 

where  hi  the  interior,  arrives  upon  the  scene,  and  with  his 
sharp,  shrill  voice  again  starts  and  leads  the  canine  chorus. 
By  this  time  the  eagle  in  his  cage  has  awakened,  and  the 
parrot,  whose  cage  is  built  on  the  corner  of  the  studio,  adds 
to  the  racket." 

Method.  —  This  is  a  picture  that  the  children  instinctively 
like.  The  individual  sheep  and  the  collective  waves  of 
them  are  quite  as  attractive  to  them  as  the  story  told  by 
the  alert  shepherd  dog  to  the  right. 

If  this  picture  is  studied  in  November,  it  would  appro- 
priately follow  the  nature  lessons  on  animal  and  human 
preparation  for  winter,  in  which  sheep  had  been  discussed. 
But  it  would  be  a  pity  to  make  this  beautiful  picture  serve 
merely  as  a  vehicle  to  convey  these  truths. 

On  the  contrary,  since  Rosa  Bonheur's  pictures  are  so 
well  known,  and  so  frequently  reproduced,  it  would  be  well 
to  follow  the  study  of  this  particular  picture  with  a  loan 
collection,  to  which  the  teacher  as  well  as  the  pupils 
should  contribute,  of  her  other  pictures.  Their  subjects 
appeal  to  children.  (See  pp.  xxi,  o,  6,  7.)  (See  Part  II, 
for  ''Ploughing"  and  "The  Horse  Fair.") 

THE   SHEPHERDESS  —  LEROLLE 
Literature  : 

HISTORY  OK   FI:KNCH   PAINTIM;  .....     Simmi/nm 
CKVITKY,  vol.  21  ;     HARI-KI:.  vol.  so.  p.  silt. 

The  popularity  of  this  and  others  of  Lerolle's  pictures 
is  great.  Theodore  Child,  however,  denies  to  the  painter 
creative  ability,  and  savs  thai  lie  shmvs  the  combined 


44  I'lCTl'HK    STl'DY 

influence  of  Millet,    Bastien-Lepage,    Puvis   de  Chavanne, 

;uul  Ca/iii.  attenuating  them  all  and  yet  utilizing  their 
methods  and  effects  with  remarkable  intelligence,  much 
as  a  clever  musician  might  arrange  the  score  of  a  grand 
opera,  for  the  piano. 

Although  his  works  are  so  well  known  and  so  much 
loved,  comparatively  little  is  known  of  his  life.  In  spite 
of  the  tramp-like  and  decidedly  Bohemian-looking  sketch 
in  Ha  rjtcr  (vol.  SO),  he  is  a  wealthy  man,  and  paints  only 
because  he  wishes  to  do  so.  This  gives  him  also  the  priv- 
ilege of  painting  just  what  pleases  him.  At  first,  his 
pictures  were  airy  landscapes.  Of  these  the  well-known 
"  l>y  the  River"  is  an  excellent  example.  Later,  he 
painted  large  interiors,  such  as  the  much-admired  "Organ'' 
in  the  Metropolitan  Museum.  And  now.  finally,  he  paints 
scenes  from  peasant  life,  of  which  "The  Shepherdess"  is  a 
characteristic  example. 

Method.  —  Of  what  is  this  a'  picture?  Have  you  ever 
seen  a  shepherdess?  Where?  Where  is  she  taking  the 
sheep?  Why?  What  has  she  on  her  stick?  What  kind 
of  trees?  (Beech.)  How  do  you  know  them?  (By  their 
peculiar  smooth  bark:  a  favorite  subject  with  painters.) 
What  is  going  on  behind  these  trees?  What  time  of  the 
year  do  you  think  it  to  be?  (See  pp.  xxi,  5.  (>.  7.) 


46  PICTURE    STUDY 

THE  SPINNER  —  NIKOLAAS   MAES 

Literature : 

FUJI  UE  PAIXTKKS  OF  HOLLAND     .     Gower  (Great  Artist  Series) 
CKNTUUY,  vol.  25,  p.  o(>3. 

"I  like  the  action  of  the  figure  —  its  absorbed  attentive- 
ness,  so  simple,  natural,  and  unaffected.  Here  we  see  an 
experienced  Dutch  housewife  —  a  robust  and  beautiful  old 
woman,  and  a  type  of  her  time  —  one  of  those  kind,  hale, 
thrifty  souls  whose  mere  presence  breathes  a  sense  of 
homeliness  and  serenity.  Nothing,  surely,  could  be  finer 
than  the  breadth  and  simplicity  with  which  the  features 
are  indicated;  and  the  hand  —  how  characteristic!  Only  a 
consummate  master  could  attack  such  difficulties  with  the 
ease  and  suppleness  of  handling,  and  the  exquisite  delicacy 
and  solidity  of  touch,  that  contribute  to  the  charm  and 
delight  of  this  work."-  -  Timothy  Cole. 

Xikolaas  Maes  (1032-1(593)  was  a  pupil  of  Rembrandt. 
He  was  a  successful  portrait  painter,  successful  because  he 
invariably  flattered  the  sitter.  As  works  of  art,  they  are 
his  poorest  productions.  Yet  it  was  of  these  that  he  was 
apparently  most  proud,  for  when  Jordaens  asked  him  what 
manner  of  painting  he  practised,  he  answered,  "lam  but 
a  portrait  painter." 

Method.  — The  teacher  who  reads  Cole's  description  with 
the  picture  in  her  hand  will  know  how  to  teach  the  children 
to  realize  its  beauty. 

It  would  be  well  —  not  essential  — to  use  this  in  connec- 
tion with  language  lessons  on  wool  and  weaving. — apart 
of  man's  preparation  for  winter.  (See  pp.  xxi.  .">,  (>,  7.) 


JESOP  47 


'—  VELASQUEZ 

For  literature,  see  }».  !»7 ;  for  an  account  of  tin;  artist,  see 
p.  1(1.'). 

-KSOI',    ill     I'OKTS    OK    (IlJKKCK          ......        .1////X 

CLASSIC     I'oliTUAITS        ........       Kriirr 

In  these  (lays  .Esop's  fables  are  in  most  first  readers. 
Even  as  far  back  as  tlie  first  century  after  Christ  the 
great  rhetorician,  (Juintilian,  urged  that  they  should  be 
used  for  that  purpose. 

One  of  liis  failles,  in  [(articular,  is  used  by  most  teachers 
in  connection  with  preparation  for  winter.  This  is  the 
Ant  and  the  Grasshopper. 

There  is  strong  probability  that  the  failles  attributed  to 
-Esop  were  not  the  work  of  any  one  man.  but  the  gradual 
accumulation  of  centuries,  including,  even,  some  tales 
from  ancient  Egypt.  Nevertheless,  there  was  an  ^Esop 
who  lived  in  the  sixth  centurv  before  Christ.  lie  was  a 
slave,  who  served  under  a.  Creek  master  in  Athens,  and 
under  Crn'sus,  the  rich  king  of  Lvdia.  in  Asia  Minor. 


4S  riCTUKK    STUDY 

This  picture  by  Velasquez  represents  a  poor  old  man, 
ugly  and  sad,  yet  with  a  kindly  and  wise  expression. 
Velasquez  has  painted  him  above  the  level  of  our  eyes, 
looking  down  to  us.  This  adds  greatly  to  the  impression 
that  the  figure  makes  upon  us. 

Method. — Tell  the  children  the  story  of  the  Ant  and 
the  Grasshopper,  or  let  them  read  it.  Let  them  realize 
that  the  one  reason  for  its  wide  popularity  (it  has  even 
furnished  the  theme  for  a  light  opera)  is  the  universal 
truth  that  it  teaches. 

Give  them  some  account  of  the  man  himself,  and  then 
sho\v  them  Velasquez's  interpretation  of  his  character. 

Do  you  like  the  picture?  Why?  Describe  his  dress. 
Did  ^Esop  dress  in  this  fashion  ?  Why  not  ?  Is  this  a 
matter  of  importance?  Why  not?  What  is  the  most 
important  point?  What  does  his  face  tell  us?  his 
shoulders,  his  hands,  his  whole  figure? 

Does  he  seem  to  be  looking  up  or  down  upon  you? 
Prove  by  the  tub  that  this  is  true  (the  narrow  ellipse  of 
the  top).  (See  pp.  xxi,  5,  0,  7.) 


50  PICTURE   STUDY 


PILGRIM  E XI LEX  —  BOUGHTW 

Literature  : 
HISTORY  OF  MODERN  PAIXTIXG   ..... 

MAGA/INE  OK  ART,  vol.  •">,  p.  -M7 ;  NEW  EXGLAXD  MAGAZINE, 
vol.  1"),  p.  4*1;  CEXTCRY,  vol.  21,  p.  15(5;  ART  JOCRXAL,  vol.  2">. 
p.  41  ;  PORTFOLIO,  vol.  2,  p.  42;  vol.  8,  p.  15!(. 
C'orRTsiiii1  OF  MILES  STAXDISII         .         .     Henry  W.  Longfellow 
A  KOSTOX    THANKSGIVING,  adapted    from 

K.  K.  Halo,  in  TIIK  CHILD'S  WORLD     .     Emilie  Ponlssnn 
THE   FIRST   THANKSGIVING,   Tin:   STORY 

lion:     .....          Mr*.  \Vi(/(/ui  and  Norn  Smith 
(YSTOMS     AND    FASHIONS   -IN    OLD    XE\V 

KX<;LAXD       ......     Alice  Morxe  Enrle 

XOVEMHEH,  WILSON'S   HISTORY   HEADER. 

A   TARDY  THA.NKS<;IYIN<; Mian  Wilkins 

OLD-TIME  THAXKSCJIVIXG,  ST.   Xn  HOI. AS, 

vol.  24,  Part  I.  p.  :>S. 

Poems : 

THE  LANDING  OF  THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS     Mr.t.  Ilr-mfins 
THAXKSGIVIXI;   DAY    .....     Ly<lia  Mnrin  Child 
THANKSGIVING   DAY    .          Xoru  Pf-rri/.  in  New  Songs  and  Ballad* 
THANKSGIVING  \ 

A   THANKSGIVING  FEAST        Mnrf/nrc/  E.  Snnf/ster,  in  Easter  Bclh 
Mis>    Lr<  INDA'S  OI-I.MOX  ^ 

Tin:    1'r.MPKiN  ) 

t    .  Wluttier 

l-oi:    AN    At'TI'MX    FESTIVAL    ) 

••  \Vhat  Bonghton  does  l>ost  in  figure  painting  is  women 
and  children,  liis  types  being  never  without  grace  of  figure 
and  gesture,  and  having  often  for  sentiment  something  of 
that  reserved  gentleness  which  belongs  to  lives  that  have  to 
br  passed  less  in  pleasure  than  in  patience."  —  Sidney  Coffin. 


~r2  PICTURE   STl'DY 

(leorge  Henry  Koughton  (1S.'>4-  ),  born  in  England, 
but  living  in  America,  in  his  early  life,  while  still  a  boy 
earned  his  living  in  his  brother's  hat  factory.  Hut  he  was 
more  successful  with  his  pen,  making  clever  sketches,  than 
in  learning  the  trade.  It  is  related  that  one  day  going  to  a 
shop  for  fish-hooks,  his  eyes  caught  sight  of  some  tubes  of 
oil  colors.  He  spent  his  fish-hook  money  for  these,  and, 
securing  a  bit  of  canvas,  with  no  one  to  help,  he  yet  man- 
aged to  make  pictures  which  were  the  marvel  of  all  who 
saw  them.  Before  he  was  twenty  he  had  made  enough 
money  by  painting  to  take  him  to  Europe.  He  came  back 
to  New  York,  but  finally  married  and  settled  in  London, 
where  he  has  since  lived. 

Method.  —  Describe  the  picture.  What  country  is  this'.' 
Who  are  the  people?  Of  what  are  they  thinking? 

If  the  children  have  not  already  learned  in  history,  or  by 
reading,  the  story  of  these  early  settlers  of  Massachusetts, 
tell  it  to  them  now. 

Whether  it  is  worth  while  to  tell  them  anything  of  the 
artist  must  be  decided  by  the  judgment  of  the  teacher. 

Collect,  if  possible,  the  rest  of  his  pilgrim  series,  which 
includes  a  charming  portrait  of  Rose  Standish  and  one  of 
I'riscilla.  as  well  as  the  familiar  scenes.  (See  pp.  xxi.  .">. 


DECEMBER 

(  CHRISTMAS^ 


DECEMBER 
(CHRISTMAS) 

Literature : 

IJr.x    I  In: 

TINY  TIM    (CIIIMSTMAS  CAHOI.)       .... 

'I'm.   Fin  TIM:I.  ....... 

LAST   DIM-: AM   OF  TIM-:  Oi.n  OAK      .... 

STOKY  01-    CIIIMSTMAS.  in  The  Slnrij 

/fniir l//>.    \\'/i/i/in  ami   \' ant   Smith 

CIIIMSTMAS  IN   l>i.  i  III.I.IIKM.  ST.  NICHOLAS,  vol.  L'-l. 

p.  !)1J. 

CIIIMSTMAS   (.SKKTCH    I>OOK)     .....      Irri/n/ 
NKMIT    Ui.ioiti:  CIIIMSTMAS.    \\nri  rn;i;'s   "('1111.11 

\.\V\." \lu,n; 

ClII.'ISTMAS    (iKKK  1  l.\<;          ......        l.nci/    L/iri'nin 

OLD  CIIIMSTMAS        .......      Mm-;/  llntcitt 


5(3  VICTUKK    STl'DY 


ARRIVAL  OF  THE  SHEriWRDS  —  LEROLLE 

Literature  : 

(See  p.  4±)  The  CKXTTKY,  vol.  '21,  has  a  poem  by  Edith 
Thomas,  with  this  picture  for  the  subject. 

Although  this  is  one  of  the  most  realistic  of  all  the 
Nativities,  yet  Lerolle  has  represented  in  it  the  symboli- 
cal ass  and  ox,  appropriate  enough,  no  doubt,  but  from  the 
earliest  times  used  to  typify  the  Gentile  and  the  Jew. 

There  are  no  angels  present;  the  light  does  not  radiate 
from  the  Babe,  and  yet  it  gives  the  impression  of  the  super- 
natural. 

Method.  —  Of  what  place  is  this  a  picture?  Why  do  you 
think  so  (let  them  observe  the  hay  and  the  animals)  ?  What 
time  of  the  day '.'  At  what  are  the  group  of  men  at  the  left 
looking?  Who  is  this  mother  with  the  new-born  child? 
Who  are  these  men  ?  How  do  you  know  ?  Read  to  them 
Luke  2.  14,  and  also,  perhaps,  Edith  Thomas's  poem. 

If  this  is  used  as  a  Christmas  picture,  it  would  be  a  pity 
to  disturb  the  impression  of  the  Nativity  by  a  reference  to 
the  artist  and  his  other  works.  (See  pp.  xxi,  o,  (>.  7.) 


58  PICTURE   STUDY 


J10L  Y  XHlllT—  COKKEGGIO 

Literature : 

I, IKK  OK  ('oi{i;i:<;»;io /fieri 

HAXDHOOK  OK   PAINTIM;   (!TAI.IAX)       .         .         .     Kni/li-r 

IIlSTOKY    OK    TIIK    1{  K.NAISSANC  K.   YO\.  '•'>    .  .  .       Xi/nt<»ifl* 

MKMOIHS  OK  TIIK  KAIM.Y   ITALIAN-   I'AIMKKS       .     .!//•>•.  Jameson 
CoKKK(;<;io         .....     H«iton  ((iivat  Artist  Series) 

MlDSl'MMKK    OK     ITALIAN     Altl  ....       Sti-llftiS 

1'lMNC  KS    OK    Al!T         .......       Mrs.    rrliilin 

BlOGKAI'lIIKS    OK    TIIK.     KlNK.     Al.'TS.  .  .  .        S/IO/IH/-/' 

STOIJIKS  OK  Bov  (J KNITS /,</</</ Jen-is 

MACJA/INK  OK  Ai;r.  vol.  s.  ]>.  ti'l):  vol.  11.  p.  :>S(>:  vol.  1!). 
]i.  44!);  C'KNTruY,  vol.  ±J.  ]-.  !»Ki;  NATION,  vol.  ">!).  p.  l.")<!:  vol. 
ti'J.  p.  1S:5;  ATLANTIC  MONTHLY,  vol.  77.  p.  .")(!():  AIM  ,Jofi:.\Ai.. 
vol.  ol.  p.  :5.18 :  TOK-I-KOLIO,  vol.  1!».  pp.  :{(».  .">(J. 

"The  so-called  'Xotte'  (Xight)  the  -Adoration  of  the 
Shepherds,'  is  celebrated  for  the  striking  effect  of  the 
light,  which,  in  accordance  with  the  legend,  proceeds  from 
the  new-born  babe.  who.  as  well  as  the  .Madonna,  are  lost  in 
the  splendor  which  has  guided  the  steps  of  the  distant 
shepherds.  A  young  female  figure  on  OIK-  side,  and  a 
beautiful  youth  on  the  other,  receive  the  full  light,  which 
seems  to  dax/le  their  eyes,  while  angels  hovering  above 
appear  in  a  softened  radiance.  Morning  breaks  on  the 
horizon."-—  /v'"'//''/1'*  Hcimlbwtk  <>f  Pniiifi/n/. 


60  PTCTUKE    STUDY 

••  What  shall  we  say,  then,  of  Correggio's  •  La  Xotte,'  that 
third  treasure  of  the  Dresden  Gallery,  and  most  popular  of 
all  pictures  of  the  Nativity  '/  There  is  no  crude  realism 
here.  It  is  an  indubitable  poem  on  canvas.  Hut  we  may 
still  question  a  little  whether  the  poetry  is  exactly  of  the 
right  kind.  It  is  too  lyrical,  the  movement  is  overstrained; 
it  lacks  repose  and  delicacy  of  rhythm.  This  big  shepherd 
with  his  violent  gesture  of  wonder,  this  woman  with  con- 
tracted brows  and  hand  lifted  to  shade  the  dazzle  of  light. 
these  wonderfully  agile  celestial  limbs  vibrating  in  ecstasy 
—  a  man  who  truly  believed  in  the  Nativity  and  felt  it 
most  profoundly  would  have  left  these  out.  Hut  Correggio 
was  too  excitable,  too  sensuous,  too  fond  of  showing  his 
skill  in  foreshortening  and  contrast  of  light  and  shade.  He 
was  a  wonderful  artist,  but  his  genius  was  not  pure,  sincere, 
reverent,  and  therefore  there  is  a  touch  of  affectation  in  his 
work.  He  is  like  a  preacher  who  longs  to  say  witty  or 
pretty  things  in  a  sermon  on  the  life  of  Christ.  We  detect 
the  false  note,  and  it  spoils  our  devotion. 

"But  for  all  that,  the  heart  of  this  picture — -the  mother 
half  embracing,  half  worshipping  her  child  — remains  a 
marvel  of  beauty,  and  the  world  has  a  right  to  love  it.  It 
was  no  new  or  original  idea  to  make  all  the  light  of  the 
stable  come  from  the  divine  Babe.  \Ve  find  it  in  the  Arabic 
'(Jospel  of  Infancy,'  and  one  of  the  fathers  says.  ''When 
Christ  was  born  his  body  shone  like  the  sun  when  it  rises.' 
Hugo  van  der  (iocs,  and  many  other  painters,  have  used  the 
thought  ;  but  none  have  done  it  so  beautifully  as  Correggio. 
The  glory  that  streams  from  the  infant  is  a  white,  brilliant, 
supernatural  radiance,  manifestly  of  heaven,  and  away  be- 


HOLY   NIGHT  61 

hind  the  hills  the  dawning  of  the  earth  light  looks  cold  and 
gray/'  —  From,  Nativity  in  Art,  fl<jnri/  ran  I)i/kc,  /Ao'yw'.s 
c,  vol.  72,  p.  21. 


••The  picture  represents  the  Nativity,  but.  Correggio  has 
evidently  taken  his  inspiration,  not  from  the  (Jospel  narra- 
tive,  but  from  the  account  in  an  apocryphal  book  called 
•  Kvangelo  dell'  Jnfan/.ia  del  Salvatore.'  which  relates  that 
\vhen  Joseph  came  back  with  assistance  to  his  wife  he 
found  the  cave  tilled  \vith  a  divine  radiance  from  the  Babe. 
which  was  already  born.  The  effect  as  represented  by  the 
painter  is  very  beautiful;  the  sole  light  emanates  from  the 
body  of  the  divine  Child,  and  falls  on  the  rapt  faces  of 
the  adoring  shepherds.  One  of  the  most  beautiful  figures 
is  a  young  girl,  who  shades  her  eyes  with  her  hand  from 
this  mysterious  effulgence.  Purgileone,  describing  the 
group,  says:  'All  the  figures  might  have  been  drawn  by 
an  angel  hand,  and  they  seem  to  start  out  from  the  canvas. 
wanting  only  the  power  of  speech.' 

-Above  the  shed  is  a  choir  of  angels,  of  which,  the  equally 
enthusiastic  Vasari  asserts.  "They  seemed  to  have  been 
rained  down  from  heaven.'  .  .  .  Correggio's  light  is  deli- 
cate and  sjtirituclli',  and  seems  to  pervade  every  tiling,  rather 
than  to  form  shadows,  while  its  unity  is  very  full  of  religious 
meaning."  —  M«i/<iziiic  of  Art.  IS'.i-i.  L<-«<l<>r  Si-ntf. 


"  Regarding  the  art  of  Correggio  from  an  intellectual  or 
emotional  point  of  view,  his  supreme  gift  may  be  defined 
as  suavity, — a  vivid,  spontaneous,  lambent  play  of  the 


62  PICTURE    STUDY 

affections,  a  heartfelt  inner  grace  which  fashions  the  forms 
and  features,  and  beams  like  soft  and  glancing  sunshine  in 
the  expressions.  We  see  lovely  or  lovable  souls  clothed  in 
bodies  of  corresponding  loveliness,  Avhich  are  not  only  phys- 
ically charming,  but  are  so  informed  with  the  spirit  within 
as  to  become  one  with  that  in  movement  and  gesture.  In 
these  qualities  of  graceful  naturalness,  not  heightened  into 
the  sacred  or  severe,  and  of 'joyous  animation,  in  momen- 
tary smiles,  and  casual  living  turns  of  the  head  and  limbs, 
(Jorreggio  undoubtedly  carried  the  art  some  steps  beyond 
anything  that  it  had  previously  attained,  and  he  remains 
to  this  day  the  unsurpassed  or  unequalled  model  of  preemi- 
nence. From  a  technical  point  of  view,  his  supreme  gift 
is  chiaroscuro,  — the  power  of  modifying  every  tone,  from 
bright  light  to  depth  of  darkness,  with  the  sweetest  and 
most  subtle  gradations,  all  being  combined  into  harmoni- 
ous unity.  In  this  he  far  distanced  all  predecessors,  and 
defied  subsequent  competition.  His  color,  also,  is  lumi- 
nous and  precious,  perfectly  understood  and  blended. 
When  we  come,  however,  to  estimate  painters  according  to 
their  dramatic  faculty,  their  power  of  telling  a  story,  or 
of  impressing  a  majestic,  truth,  their  range  and  strength 
of  mind,  we  find  the  merits  of  Correggio  very  feeble  in 
comparison  with  those  of  the  highest  masters,  and  even  of 
many  who,  without  being  altogether  great,  have  excelled 
in  these  particular  qualities.  Correggio  never  means  much, 
and  often,  in  subjects  whose  fulness  of  significance  is 
demanded,  he  means  provokingly  little.  He  expressed  his 
D\vn  miraculous  facility  by  saying  that  he  always  had  his 
thoughts  at  the  end  of  his  pencil:  in  truth,  they  were  very 


HOLY  NIGHT  63 

often  thoughts  rather  of  the  pencil  and  its  controlling  hand 
than  of  the  teeming  brain."    -  W.  J/.  Jto.wtti. 

Antonio  Allegri  (1494-15,'U)  was  called  Correggio  from 
his  birthplace.  His  father  was  a  small  tradesman  in  com- 
fortable circumstances.  He  was  carefully  educated,  and, 
in  art,  received  some  instruction  from  his  uncle  and  vari- 
ous other  artists.  He  himself  did  not  become  famous 
during  his  lifetime,  but,  nevertheless,  lie  received  a  suffi- 
ciency of  orders.  He  was  the  first  artist  who  ever  under- 
took the  painting  of  a  large  cupola,  an  undertaking  full  of 
difficulties  because  of  the  fact  that  the  figures  were  seen 
only  from  below.  This  necessitated  bold  foreshortening, 
something  not  attempted  before  his  day.  Nevertheless,  his 
contemporary  did  not  appreciate  his  wonderful  work  in 
this  line,  and  called  the  cupola  decorations  ''a  hash  of 
frogs."  It  is  said  that  Titian  on  seeing  these  pictures  and 
hearing  that  they  were  lightly  esteemed  exclaimed. 
"  Reverse  the  cupola,  and  fill  it  with  gold,  and  even  that 
will  not  be  its  money's  Avorth." 

Correggio  led  an  isolated  life  so  far  as  intercourse  with 
other  artists  is  concerned.  He  SIIAV  but.  one  pieture, 
even,  of  Raphael's.  He  fairly  hung  over  it  (it  was  the  "St. 
Cecilia")  when,  at  last,  after  long  expectancy,  lie  saw  it. 
"  I  also  am  a  painter!  ''  he  is  said  to  have  exclaimed. 

Correggio's  ma.rried  life  was  very  happy.  His  wife  was 
young,  beautiful,  and  devoted  to  him.  She  brought  him  a 
good  dowry,  and  was  the  mother  of  four  children.  She- 
died  some  live  A'ears  before  he  did. 

Then-  is  a  ,s(orv  I  old   bv  the   ever   unreliable  Vasari.  that 


64  PICTURE    STUDY 

Correggio's  last  illness  was  caused  by  his  carrying  home  a 
sum  of  money  paid  him  for  a  picture.  The  money  was 
given  him  in  copper  coin  to  humiliate  him.  To  save  ex- 
pense he  had  carried  it  from  Parma  to  Correggio.  The 
day  was  hot,  and  his  consequent  fatigue  and  exhaustion  led 
to  the  fatal  illness. 

Method. —  Why  is  the  picture  called  "Holy  Night"? 
Where  does  the  light  come  from  ?  Which  face  shows  how 
bright  this  lig-ht  is  ?  Look  at  the  face  of  the  mother. 
Where  is  Joseph  ?  Who  are  the  men  to  the  left  ?  What 
do  you  see  above  ?  (See  pp.  xxi,  5,  (>,  7.) 


JL 1 1)  OXX^  1   .1 XD   CIHL  D  —  D AGN AN-BOU VERET 
Literature  : 

HlSTOKY    OF    MODKKN     I'AlNTIN(i    .....        Milliter 

IIisTonv  OK   FKKNCII    PAINTING ^trunahan 

MODKIJN   FKKNCII   M. \STKHS  .         .     Kditcd  1>\  ./.  ('.run  Dyke 

MAGA/INK  OK  ART,  Fdiniarv.  1S!):J:  AIM  JOTHXAL,  vol.  49, 
p.  'JKi:  Ci:.NTri:v.  vol.  'J(i,  p.  4:  Mc(.'r.ri;i-:,  vol.7,  p.  4'22 ;  CKN- 
TCKY.  vol.  ."):),  p.  lli:};  TIIK.  OKKKI;TOI;Y.  Mari/  Mnpes  Doilr/e,  in 
the  C'KX'i'ruY,  vol.  21 . 

'•'Another  masterpiece,  —  I  mean  his  Madonna,  —  a  Virgin 
of  the  size  of  life,  standing  robed  in  white,  and  holding  the 
infant  .Jesus  in  her  arms.  The  light  falls  on  the  figure, 
subdued  by  vine  branches  which  overarch  the  picture.  The 
action  of  the  Virgin  pressing  the  Child  to  her  bosom,  her 
somewhat  dreamy  and  inexpressibly  tender  look,  are  ren- 
dered with  such  truth  and  grace  as  only  manly  and  honest 


GG  PICTURE    STUDY 

talent  can  command.  Nothing  is  seen  of  the  divine  Infant 
but  his  little  head,  drooping  as  though  too  heavy  as  yet  for 
the  neck,  and  resting  on  his  mother's  shoulder.  The  paint- 
ing is  capital,  but  far  beyond  the  techniqife  are  the  senti- 
ment and  the  poetry  of  the  picture.  It  is  a  vision  of  a 
superior  being.  This  Mother  with  her  Child  is  the  Mother 
of  God,  and  as  we  gaze  on  it  we  feel  the  same  impression 
as  in  looking  at  the  colder,  but  exquisite  mysticism  of  a 
picture  by  Botticelli. 

"The  stamp  of  the  painter  —  the  poet-painter  as  Dagnan- 
Bouveret  is.  His  deep-set  eye,  black  under  the  prominent 
arch  of  the  brow,  has  the  kindly,  searching  gaze  which 
tries  to  pierce,  to  embrace,  and  to  understand  the  image 
on  which  it  rests.  His  whole  person  is  wrapped,  as  it 
were,  in  a  halo  of  thought  and  abstraction,  which  gives  him 
an  Old  World  aspect,  a  reminiscence  of  an  age  when  a 
whole  life  dedicated  to  a  single  aim  led  to  achievement, 
regardless  of  the  world  of  criticism  or  of  fame.  A  Hol- 
bein stepped  out  of  its  frame  is  the  best  idea  that  I  can 
give  of  Dagnan-Bouveret's  appearance." 

-McKjaziiie  of  Art,  1803, 

Prince  Bojidar  Karayeoryevitcli. 

Dagnan-Bouveret  (1852-  )  was  the  son  of  a  French- 
man, M.  Dagnan,  who  went,  when  the  child  was  a  baby,  to 
Brazil  to  engage  in  commerce.  His  mother  died  in  Brazil 
when  lie  was  only  six  years  old.  So  the  little  lad  was  sent 
home  to  his  grandmother  Bouveret,  whose  name,  according 
to  custom,  lie  affixed  to  his  own.  He  was  from  the  begin- 
ning determined  to  be  an  artist.  So  that  when  his  father 


MADONNA   OF   THE    LOUVRE  07 

offered  him  an  opening  in  commerce  in  Brazil,  he  declined 
it.  This  so  angered  his  father  that  he  at  once  stopped  his 
allowance. 

Method.  —  After  the  pictures  have  been  distributed,  read 
to  the  children  Mrs.  Dodge's  beautiful  poem:  — 

All  babyhood  he  holdeth, 
All  motherhood  enfoldeth.  — 
Yet  who  hath  seen  his  face  '.' 

she  sings.  This  in  itself  is  so  sufficient  and  beautiful  an 
interpretation  of  the  picture  that  one  hesitates  to  say  any- 
thing more.  1'erhaps  the  best  thing  one  can  do  is  to  read 
to  them  also  the  description  given  by  Prince  Karageorge- 
vitch,  quoted  above.  This  will  call  their  attention  suffi- 
ciently to  the  details  of  the  picture,  and  yet  not  disturb 
the  feeling  of  mystery  inspired  by  the  poem.  (See  p.  x.\i, 
«"»>  0,  7.) 

MADOXXA    OF   THE   LO( ~VRE  —  BOTTICELLI 
Literature  : 

AKIADXK  FLOKKNTIXA        .....  Rn*kln 

BOTTK  KI.I.I  ....      1'liillhiiori -((livut  Artist  Scries) 

HISTORY  OK  TIIK,  KK.XAISSAXC  i.,  vol.  '•]        .          .  ,S'/////^m/s 

MAKK.IJS  OK   KI.OIJKXCK        .....  Mr*.  <>/i/>/nint 

Till.    IvKXAISSAXCK          ......  1'itt'i' 

MiiisrMMKK  OK   ITALIAN    AIM  .  .          S/i'iiriix 

ACADKMV,  vol.  •!."),  pp.  1(1!).  I'll;  vol.  Hi.  p.  1:17  ;  d:\ii  i:v.  vol. 
18.  ]>.  .101;  AitT  JorisxAi,.  vol.  :5:5,  p.  li»();  vol.  17.  ]>.  l^S;  K.UIT- 
XKJII n.v,  vol.  14,  p.  1  "M. 

This  exquisite  Madonna  is  loved  by  everybody.  (hie 
does  not  need  to  be  a  Botticelli  enthusiast  to  understand 


(58  I'KTUKK    STUDY 

and  divine  the  awed  yet  lovely  virgin,  the  human  yet  heav- 
enly child,  and  the  elflike  St.  John ;  the  roses  against  the 
glowing  background  ["no  one  ever  painted  roses  as  well  as 
Sandro,''  says  Euskin],  and  the  wonderfully  bold  yet  deli- 
cate detail,  the  veil,  the  carved  chair,  and  the  folds  of  cloth 
under  the  book. 

Alessandro  Filipepi  (1.440-1510)  was  called  Botticelli 
from  the  goldsmith  to  whom  he  was  apprenticed.  He  is 
almost  equally  frequently  called  Sandro,  the  diminutive 
of  his  first  name.  He  was  afterward  a  student  of  Fra 
Fillippi,  and  on  the  death  of  the  latter  was  counted  the  first 
painter  in  Florence. 

His  work  was  munificently  rewarded,  but  he  was  extrava- 
gant anil  always  poor. 

Like  so  many  artists  of  his  time  —  the  Robbias,  Lorenzo 
di  Credi,  Fra  Bartolommeo,  Michelangelo  —  he  came  under 
the  influence  of  Savonarola's  holy  life  and  fiery  influence. 
It  is  said  that  he  gave  up  his  painting  for  him  and  would 
have  starved  to  death,  had  it  not  been  for  the  help  of  his 
friends. 

Method.  —  Of  whom  is  this  a  picture?  How  do  you 
know?  How  is  she  holding  the  Christ-child?  [Xote  that 
she  nowhere  touches  his  flesh.]  How  is  St.  John  dressed  ? 
Why?  What  flowers  do  you  see?  Do  you  like  the  pic- 
ture? Why?  (See  pp.  xxi.  ;">.  (>.  7.) 


70  PICTURE   STUDY 


UGLY  FAMILY—  MUKILLO 

Literature : 

THK  SPANISH  MASTERS         ....     WasTiburn 
ANNALS  OK  THK  ARTISTS  OF  SPAIN    .         .     Stirling-Maxwell 

MruiLLO Minor  ((ireat  Artist  Series) 

MTRILLO Sweelser 

MURILLO'S  TRANCE,  "Cartoons"  .         .         .     Margaret  J.  Preston 

MAGAZINK  OF  ART,  vol.  21,  pp.  07,  00;  vol.  20,  p.  243 ;  PORT- 
FOLIO, vol.  8,  p.  105;  HARPER,  vol.  71,  p.  938;  CATHOLIC  WORLD, 
vol.  29,  p.  820. 

"Now  let  us  speak  of  Murillo  in  our  gentlest  tones. 
Velasquez  is  in  art  an  eagle;  Murillo  is  an  angel.  One 
admires  Velasquez  and  adores  Murillo.  By  his  canvases 
we  know  him  as  if  he  had  lived  among  us.  He  was  hand- 
some, good,  and  virtuous.  He  was  born  to  paint  the  sky. 
Fortune  gave  him  a  mild  and  serene  genius,  which  bore 
him  to  God  on  the  wings  of  a  tranquil  inspiration;  and 
yet  his  most  admirable  paintings  breathe  an  air  of  gentle 
sweetness  which  inspires  sympathy  and  affection  even 
before  admiration.  A  simple  nobility  and  elegance  of  out- 
line, an  inexpressible  harmony  of  colors, — these  are  the 
qualities  that  impress  one  at  first  sight;  but  the  more  that 
one  looks  at  the  paintings,  the  more  one  discovers,  and 
surprise  is  transformed  little  by  little  into  a  delicious  sense 
of  pleasure.  His  saints  have  a  benign  aspect,  cheering 
and  consoling;  his  angels,  whom  he  groups  with  marvel- 
lous ability,  make  one's  lips  tremble  with  a  desire  to  kiss 
them;  his  virgins,  clothed  in  white,  with  long  flowing 
draperies  of  azure,  with  their  great  black  eyes,  their  clasped 


THE    HOLY    FAMILY. 


72  PICTt'HK    STl'DY 

hands,  delicate,  graceful,  ethereal,  make  one's  heart  trem- 
ble with  their  beauty,  and  one's  eyes  till  with  tears.  He 
combines  the  truth  of  Velasquez,  the  vigor  of  Ribera,  the 
harmonious  transparency  of  Titian,  and  the  brilliant 
vivacity  of  Rubens.  .  .  . 

'•  [Of  an  Immaculate  Conception  a.t  Madrid.]  I  was  filled 
with  an  inexpressible  love  for  this  face.  More  than  once, 
as  I  looked  at  it,  I  felt  tears  coursing  down  my  cheek.  .  .  . 
My  heart  was  softened  and  my  mind  was  lifted  to  a  plane 
of  thought  higher  than  any  I  had  before  reached  —  a  new 
feeling  of  prayer,  a  desire  to  love,  to  do  good,  to  suffer  for 
others,  to  elevate  my  mind  and  heart.  .  .  . 

"'  One  should  see  on  a  Sunday  the  children,  the  girls,  and 
the  poor  women  before  these  pictures,  —  see  how  their  faces 
light  up  and  hear  the  sweet  words  upon  their  lips.  Murillo 
is  a  saint  to  them,  and  they  speak  his  name  with  a  smile, 
as  if  to  say,  '  He  is  ours  ' ;  and  in  so  saying  they  look  as 
if  they  were  performing  an  act  of  reverence.  The  artists 
do  not  all  regard  him  in  the  same  manner,  but  they  love 
him  above  all  others,  and  they  are  not  able  to  divorce  their 
admiration  from  their  love." —  DC  Ainfris. 

Bartolome  Esteban  Murillo  (1017-1.082)  was  a  native  of 
Seville,  where,  too,  he  early  learned  the  technique  of  his 
profession,  in  those  days,  drawing,  cleaning  brushes,  grind- 
ing colors,  and  the  like.  He  earned  his  living  by  paint- 
ing pictures  for  the  weekly  market.  When  Moya 
returned  to  Seville  with  copies  of  the  paintings  of  Van 
Dyck  and  other  Flemish  artists.  Murillo  saw  his  own  lucks 
and  determined  to  croto  Rome.  He  walked  over  the  Sierras 


HOLY   FAMILY  78 

to  Madrid  where  lie  was  cordially  received  by  the  great 
Velasquez.  He  persuaded  Murillo  to  remain  Avith  him. 

Here  Murillo  made  marvellous  progress  with  almost  no 
teaching  except  such  as  he  obtained  indirectly  by  copying 
the  works  of  the  masters  whom  he  most  loved,  viz.,  Van 
J)yck,  liibera,  and  Velasquez  liimself.  He  returned  to 
Seville  and  was  immediately  successful  in  the  practice  of 
his  art.  While  employed  in  painting  the  "  Marriage  of 
St.  Catharine"  at  Cadiz,  he  fell  from  the  scaffold.  His 
few  remaining  hours  were  passed  in  prayer. 

Method.  —  Of  whom  is  this  a  picture  ?  How  is  the 
Christ  Child  supported  ?  In  what  direction  must  each 
of  the  others  look  in  order  to  see  him  ?  (Upwards.) 
What  do  the  mother  and  St.  Joseph  seem  to  be  thinking  ? 
What  do  you  see  above  ?  Who  painted  this  picture  ? 
(See  p.  xxi,  5,  6,  7.) 


JANUARY 

(TiiE  GREAT  MASTERS) 


JANUARY 

(Tin-:  GREAT  MASTKRS) 

AXGEL  —  EELLI8I 

Literature : 

HANDBOOK  OK   I'AINTIM;   (ITALIAN)       .     Kuyler 
HISTOHY    OF     I'AINTINO    IN    Noi;  i  in:i;.\ 

ITALY          ......     ('rnirc  >///>/  <  'nr<t]c<i.« lie 

MKMOIKS     OF      TIIK      KAISLY      ITALIAN 

I'AINTKUS    ......      Mm.  Janu-son 

MAKKUS  OF  VKNICF.          ....     .l//-x.   Oli]>/nint 

AKT  JOCUNAL,  vol.  10,  pp.  <>•">,  97;  CATHOLIC  WOULD,  vol.  <>, 
|>.  108;  CFNTTUY,  vol.  17,  p.  SfrJ. 

Tliis  is  a  detail  of  the  Kedentore  Madonna  in  Venice. 
The  Christ  Child  rests  on  the  Virgin's  lap,  asleep.  At 
each  side,  on  a  step  below,  sit  two  angels  playing  to  Him. 

"  I  [is  angels,  cheerful  boys  in  the  full  bloom  of  youth." 

—  KiHjIl'T. 

"  The  figures  are  in  perfect  peace.  No  action  takes  place 
except  that  the  little  angels  are  playing  on  musical  instru- 
ments, but  with  uninterrupted  and  effortless  gesture,  as  in 
a  dream.  .  .  .  JJcllini's  angels,  even  the  youngest,  sing 
as  calmly  as  the  Fates  weave.'' — M/xi-<>//<ii<in,  Join/  /inxkin. 

"...  Often  with  lovely  children  seated  about  the  steps 
of  her  throne,  piping  tenderly  upon  their  heavenly  flutes, 


78  PICTURE   STUDY 

thrilling  the  chords  on  a  stringed  instrument,  with  a  serious 
sweetness  and  abstraction;  unconscious  of  anything  but  the 
infant  Lord,  to  whom  their  eyes  are  turned.  No  more 
endearing  and  delightful  image  could  be  than  that  of  these 
angel  children.  They  were  the  fashion  of  the  age,  growing, 
in  the  hands  of  the  Florentine  Botticelli,  into  angelic 
youths,  gravely  meditating  upon  the  wonders  they  foresaw. 
In  Raphael,  though  so  much  later,  they  are  more  divine, 
like  little  kindred  gods,  waiting  in  an  unspeakable  awe  till 
the  great  God  should  be  revealed;  but  in  Bellini,  more 
sweet  and  human,  younger,  all  tender  interest  and  delight, 
piping  their  lovely  strains  if  perhaps  they  might  give  Him 
pleasure.  One  cannot  but  conclude  that  he  who  painted 
these  children  at  the  foot  of  every  divine  group,  in  twos 
and  threes,  small,  exquisite  courtiers  of  the  infant  King, 
first  fruits  of  humanity,  must  have  found  his  models  in 
children  who  were  his  own,  whose  dimpled,  delightful  limbs 
were  within  reach  of  his  kiss,  and  whose  unconscious  grace 
of  movement  and  wondering  sweet  eyes  were  before  him 
continually.  The  delightful  purity  and  gravity,  and,  at 
the  same  time,  manliness,  if  we  may  use  the  word,  of  these 
pictures,  is  beyond  expression." 

—  Makers  of  Venice,  Mrs.  Oliphant. 

Giovanni  (Gian,  John)  Bellini  (1428  ?-1516)  was  the 
youngest  and  greatest  of  an  honorable  Venetian  family,  by 
whose  work  the  art  of  Venice  developed  from  primitive  and 
crude  beginnings  to  the  glories  of  Titian  and  Tintoretto,  lie 
studied  in  Florence,  and  brought  back  to  Venice  not  only 
her  art,  but  also  the  advances  that  she  was  making  in  other 


AN    .VNt.KL. 


80  PICTURE   STUDY 

ways.  His  most  distinguished  pupils  were  his  two  sons. 
His  daughter  became  the  wife  of  Mantegna. 

The  two  brothers  were  devotedly  attached  each  to  the 
other,  but  after  the  death  of  the  father  each  practised  his 
art  separately.  It  was  the  elder  brother,  Gentile,  who  was 
sent  to  the  Sultan  at  Constantinople.  He  was  entertained 
by  him  with  great  magnificence;  but,  it  is  said,  a  signifi- 
cant incident  made  him  anxious  to  return.  The  Sultan 
insisted  that  a  picture  of  Gentile's  showed  imperfect 
knowledge  of  the  appearance  of  the  muscles  of  the  neck 
after  decapitation,  and  thereupon  ordered  a  slave  decapi- 
tated at  once  and  in  the  presence  of  the  painter. 

After  Gentile's  return  the  two  brothers  worked  together 
in  the  decoration  of  the  great  hall  of  Venice. 

Titian  was  his  pupil. 

On  his  deathbed,  he  bequeathed  to  his  brother  his 
father's  sketch-book. 

.Many  of  Gian's  works  have  been  burned  and  otherwise 
ruined,  but  enough  of  them  remains  to  show  that  he  de- 
served the  great  reputation  that  he  had  during  his  whole 
life. 

To  show  the  superiority  of  his  character,  as  well  as  of 
his  art,  liuskin  quotes  the  following  from  Albrecht  Driver's 
Diary :  -- 

"  I  have  many  good  friends  among  the  Italians,  who  warn 
me  not  to  eat  or  drink  with  their  painters,  of  whom  sev- 
eral are  my  enemies,  and  copy  my  pictures  in  the  church, 
and  others  of  mine  wherever  they  can  find  them,  and  yet 
olame  them,  and  say  they  arc  not  according  to  ancient  art, 
and  therefore  not  good.  Giovanni  Bellini,  however,  lias 


AN<;KI,  si 

[•raised  me  highly  to  several  gentlemen  and  wishes  to 
have  something  of  my  doing;  he  called  on  mo  himself, 
and  requested  that  I  would  [mint  a  picture  for  him,  for 
which,  he  said,  he  would  pay  me  well.  People  are  all  sur- 
prised that  i  should  be  so  much  thought  of  by  a  person  of 
his  reputation:  he  is  very  old,  but  is  still  the  best  painter 
of  them  all." 

It  was  in  the  time  of  Gian  Bellini  that  oil  color,  in  place 
of  the  old  distemper,  was  introduced  into  Venice.  The 
story  is  that  Antonella  of  Messina,  who  had  learned  the 
secret  either  from  the  inventor,  Van  Kyck,  himself,  or 
perhaps  Memling,  came  to  Venice,  exhibiting  his  work  with 
this  new  and  marvellous  medium.  In  vain  the  Venetians 
tried  to  discover  this  secret.  At  last  Gian,  "  feigning  to 
be  a,  gentleman  "  ( !)  got  him  to  paint  his  portrait,  watching 
him  at  his  work  the  while,  and  seeing  him  actually  dip  his 
brush  in  the  oil.  • 

Method.  —  When  the  children  have  sufficiently  admired 
this  beautiful  boy,  and  after  they  have  asked  the  meaning 
of  the  sleeping  head  to  the  right,  show  them  the  picture  of 
the  whole  Madonna. 

Tell  them  the  story  of  the  Bellini  family,  and  show  them, 
if  possible,  others  of  his  pictures.  The  Frari  Madonna, 
with  its  two  angels  standing  on  the  steps,  and  the  altar- 
piece  of  San  Zaccharia  are  his  masterpieces.  The  double 
portrait  of  the  two  brothers,  though  of  doubtful  authen- 
ticity, will  also  interest  the  children.  (See  pp.  xxi.  T>,  (5.  7.  ) 


82  PICTURE    STUDY 


MADONNA  OF  THE  CHAIR  —  EAPHAEL 

Literature  : 

HANDBOOK  OK  PAINTING  (ITALIAN)       .  Knyler 
MEMOIKS     OK      THE      EARLY     ITALIAN 

PAINTKKS    ......  Mm.  Jameson 

LIKK  AND   WORKS  OK   RAPHAEL      .          .  (  'ntwe  ami  Cnvalcnselle 

IvAI'HAK.L  OK    I'KHINO  AND   HIS    FATIIKR     .       I'assaraitl 

LIKK  OK   RAPIIAKL    .....     Hcniinnn  Grimm 

RAPHAKL  AND  MICIIAF.L  ANGKLO  .         .     J'erkiits 

RAIMIAK.L  .....         ((Jreat  Artist  Series)  IfAnvcrx 

MIDSTMMKR  OK   ITALIAN  ART         .         .     Steams 
RAPIIAKL  .......     Jnl'ui  Cartwright 

RAPHAKI  ........     Swec.fxer 

LITTKLL'S    LIVING   AGK.  vol.  !».  p.    Ul!;    MAGAZINK  OF  ART, 
vol.  (i,  p.  4:54:  vol.  7,  p.  :W:J  ;  vol.  !»,  p.  :571  ;  vol.  IL\  p.  Ml;  vol. 
17.  p.   'Jito:    PORTKOI.IO.  vol.   211,  p.    l.")ii;    ART  JOTRNAL.  vol.  •'}, 
l»p.  1.  (}!):  vol.  0.  p.  :}().");  vol.  11,  p.  17:  Ci-:NTri:v,  vol.  21,  p.  104. 
CHILD  OK   L'RHINO  IN   BIMIJI  .         .      Oniilu 

RAPHAKL  .......     \Vhittifr 

RAPIIAF.L.  ITALY        .....     S  intni-l  lini/i-rx 

IN  TIIK  SISTINK,  '-Cartoons"  .         .     Muryttret  ,f.  Preston 


11  A  circular  j)icturo  painted  about  lolO.  The  ^fadoinia, 
seen  in  a  side  view,  sits  on  a  low  chair  holding  the  Child  on 
her  knee;  lie  leans  on  her  bosom  in  a  listless,  childlike  atti- 
tude: at  her  side  St.  John  folds  his  little  hands  in  prayer. 
The  .Madonna  wears  a  many-colored  handkerchief  on  her 
shoulders,  and  another  on  her  head,  in  a  manner  of  the 
.Italian  women.  Shi1  appears  as  a  beautiful,  blooming 
woman,  looking  out  of  the  picture  in  the  tranquil  enjov- 
ment  of  maternal  love;  the  Child,  full  and  strong  in  form, 


MADONNA    OF    TIIK    CHAIN. 


84  PICTURE    STUDY 

has    a   serious,    ingenuous,    and   grand    expression.       The 
coloring  is  uncommonly  warm  and  beautiful.''-—  Kiiylcr. 

"The  'Madonna  della  Sedia '  leaves  me,  with  all  its 
beauty,  impressed  only  by  the  grave  gaze  of  the  Infant.'' 

—  Diary,  1860,  George  Elf  of. 

"  'Hut  the  '  Madonna  della  Sedia '  is  an  ideal  of  maternal 
happiness,  so  tender  that  the  presence  of  a  man  Avould  be 
an  intrusion.  Joseph  is  only  permitted  to  look  at  the  pic- 
ture from"  a  distance.  The  Madonna  clasps  her  Child  to  her 
breast  and  knows  of  naught  besides.  She  looks  away  in 
dreamy  forgetfulness  of  all  care  and  anxiety;  while  the 
little  St.  John,  standing  at  her  knee,  with  childlike  sym- 
pathy, reflects  the  same  feeling.  It  is  a  dream  of  maternal 
bliss  and  fills  one  with  a  restful  content.  St.  John's  little 
cross,  almost  out  of  sight,  adds  just  a,  touch  of  religious 
sentiment  to  it."  —  Midsummer  of  Italian  Art,  titearns. 

The  following  story  is  told  of  the  origin  of  this 
picture:  — 

There  lived  in  the  Italian  hills  a  hermit  called  Father 
Bernardo.  He  was  renowned  for  his  goodness  and  wisdom, 
and  for  these  reasons  was  visited  by  many  who  needed  con- 
solation or  advice.  Although  he  had  no  children  of  his 
own,  yet  there  were  two  beings  as  dear  to  him  as  daughters. 
Mary,  the  child  of  a  vinedresser,  and  an  old  oak  that  grew 
beside  his  hut.  To  him  Mary  brought  presents  and  kind 
words  and  happy  smiles.  To  his  "dumb  daughter,  ''  as  he 
called  the  oak,  he  in  turn  carried  water  for  her  thirsty  roots. 


He  used  to  talk  to  her  as  it'  she  could  hear  him.  He  fed 
the  birds  that  lived  in  her  branches,  and  they  sang  to  him 
in  return. 

Many  times  the  woodman  wanted  to  cut  down  the  tree, 
for  it  was  now  old  and  feeble;  but  the  entreaties  of  the  her- 
mit prevailed.  Finally,  there  came  a  severe  winter,  and 
after  the  snow  had  melted,  then  freshets  poured  down  the 
mountain  side.  Flocks  of  cattle  and  sheep,  trees,  and  even 
villages  were  swept  away.  When  the  worst  was  over,  Mary 
went  to  see  Father  Bernardo.  She  found  his  hut  and  his 
garden  swept  away.  "But  he  had  saved  his  life  by  taking 
refuge  in  the  tree.  When  Mary  arrived  he  had  been  three 
days  without  food,  and  was  half  dead  from  exposure  to  the 
cold  and  rain.  She  took  him  home  with  her  and  cared  for 
him  until  his  home  could  be  rebuilt.  He  used  to  pray  that 
these  t\vo  children  of  his,  Mary  and  the  oak,  might  be  for- 
ever blessed,  and  might  meet  with  some  unusual  fortune  in 
return  for  all  that  they  had  done  for  him. 

Years  went  by.  The  old  hermit  had  long  since  been 
laid  to  rest.  The  old  oak  had  been  made  into  casks  for 
Mary's  father.  Mary  herself  had  married  and  had  two 
beautiful  boys.  One  day  she  sat  in  the  arbor  with  the  chil- 
dren playing  about  her,  and  near  one  of  the  old  oak 
casks.  She  took  one  of  the  children  in  her  arms.  At  once 
the  older  child  ran  toward  her  with  the  stick  which  he  had 
just  made  into  a  cross.  It  was  at  this  moment  that  Ifaphael 
saw  her  first.  He  wanted  to  paint  her,  but  he  had  with  him 
no  proper  tools.  But  on  the  smooth  cover  of  the  great  wine 
cask  he  drew  the  outlines  of  "Mary  and  the  children.  This 
he  carried  awav  with  him,  and  in  the  beautiful  picture  that 


86  PICTURK    STUDY 

lie  made,  the  wish  of  the  old  hermit  was   realized, — his 
two  daughters  were  distinguished  for  all  time. 

Raphael  Sanzio  (1483-1520).  On  a  certain  Good  Friday, 
not  very  many  years  before  Columbus  discovered  America, 
there  was  born  into  the  family  of  an  artist,  a  little  boy, 
destined  to  become  one  of  the  world's  greatest  painters.  It 
was  in  the  Italian  city  of  Urbino,  which  was  at  that  time 
one  of  the  chief  centres  of  intellectual  and  artistic  activi- 
ties. In  this  favorable  environment,  taught  by  his  father, 
Raphael  spent  the  first  sixteen  years  of  his  life.  Later 
he  studied  and  worked  first  with  Perugino,  and  afterward 
in  Florence  and  in  Rome. 

Always  every  one  loved  him,  for  he  was  beautiful, 
charming  in  his  manner,  and  kind  of  heart.  He  was  wel- 
comed as  an  equal  by  princes  and  scholars,  and  yet  he  was 
always  sincerely  modest.  He  lived  like  a  prince,  with  his 
devoted  students  for  courtiers. 

I[e  died  on  a  Good  Friday,  at  the  age  of  thirty -seven, 
from  a  fever  which  lasted  only  ten  days.  His  body  was 
laid  in  state  in  his  studio  with  his  last  great  unfinished 
picture,  "The  Transfiguration,"  at  his  head.  All  Rome 
came  to  see,  for  the  last  time,  the  divine  painter  whom 
they  loved  and  for  whom  they  mourned. 

Method.  — Develop  the  simple  composition  of  the  picture 
with  questions.  Tell  them  the  legend  of  its  conception. 
Tell  them  of  Raphael.  (See  p.  xxi,  5,  G,  7.) 


MADONNA    OF    THK    SACK 


MADOXXA    OF    TllK    XJC'A'  -  ANDEEA   DEL   SARTO 

Literature : 

HANDBOOK  OK  PAINTIM;   (ITALIAN)       .     Km/lt-r 
HISTORY    OK    I'AINTIM;    IN     \OKTIIKHX 

ITALY.         ......     ( 'ruu-c.  uml  Caenlcnxplle. 

.MKMOIRS  OK   EARLY   ITALIAN  I'AIXTKKS     .!//•>.  Jmni'mm 

BIOGRAPHIES  OK  THK  FINK  AIMS  .         .     S/><>t)ner 

HISTORY  OK  THK  RENAISSANCE,  vol.  '>}   .     Si/moml* 

AXDKKA  DKL   SARTO         .         .         .        Scot!  (( ', rent  Artist  Serifs ) 

ART  JoruNAi.,  vol.  11,  p.  321  ;   MAGA/INK  OK  ART,  vol.  6.  p.  203 : 

COXTK.MI'ORARY,     Vol.    50,    p.    "07;     A<'ADKMY,    Vol.    35,    p.    102,   120: 

t'KMfRY,  vol.  21.  p.  352;    AXDKKA   DKL  SARTO,  llnln-ri  i>rou-itht<j. 

''This  is  a  lunette  over  u  door  of  simple  composition  and 
grand  effect, — the   Madonna   and  Child,    with   .Joseph,— 
called,    from   the   sack  on  which  .Joseph  leans,   the  "  Ma- 
donna del  Sacco."  -  —  Kiujlcr. 

"His  masterpiece  in  that  year  was  the  lunette  fresco  in 
the  cloisters  of  the  Servi,  known  all  over  the  world  as  the 
'Madonna  del  Sacco. '  Vasari,  enraptured,  says  of  it, 
'That  for  drawing,  grace,  and  beauty  of  color,  for  loveli- 
ness and  relief,  no  artist  had  ever  done  the  like;'  and  no 
doubt  it  is  Andrea's  best,  producing  an  impression  of  life 
which  is  only  proper  to  works  of  the  highest  order. 

"There  is  no  denying  that  a  masculine  stamp  is  given  to 
the  youthful  and  thoughtful,  and  yet  inspired  Virgin,  as 
well  as  to  the  form  of  the  Child.  Vet  this  in  nowise 
diminishes  their  grandiose  effect. 

"The  centre  of  vision  is  appropriately  chosen  for  tin1  high 
place  in  which  the  subject  is  introduced.  The  grouping  is 


88  PICTURE    STUDY 

scientific,  the  attitudes  are  noble,  the  drapery  admirably 
calculated  to  show  off  the  frames,  and  the  balance  of  light 
and  shadow  is  perfect.  The  excellence  which  Del  Sarto 
here  attained  was  never  surpassed." 

and  Cavalcaselle. 


"  Strangely  enough,  this  painter,  so  unhappy  in  real  life, 
gives  to  his  figures  an  air  of  candid  happiness  and  unaf- 
fected goodness;  a  kind  of  innocent  joy  lifts  the  corner  of 
their  lips,  and  they  beam,  illuminated  with  a  sweet  serenity, 
in  the  warm  colored  atmosphere  with  which  the  artist  sur- 
rounds them.  A  painter  paints  his  dreams,  not  his  life." 

—  Tlieopliile  Gantier. 

Andrea  Vannucchi  (?)  (1488-1531),  called  from  his 
father's  trade  Del  Sarto  (of  the  tailor),  was  early  put  to 
work  under  a  goldsmith.  Instead  of  performing  the  work 
allotted  to  him,  he  took  to  drawing  from  his  master's 
models.  He  was  transferred  from  the  goldsmith's  shop  to 
a  skilful  woodcarver,  and  went  from  him  to  1'iero  di 
Cosimo.  Here  he  studied  the  famous  cartoons  of  Leonardo 
and  of  Michelangelo. 

The  first  important,  independent  Avork  which  he  under- 
took were  three  frescos  for  the  brotherhood  of  the  Servi. 
These  were  executed  in  a  few  months  and  gained  for  him 
the  title  of  Andrea  senza  errori,  —  the  Faultless. 

Michelangelo  thought  very  highly  of  Andrea's  powers, 
and  is  said  to  have  told  Raphael  of  him  in  these  words:  — 

"  There  is  a  little  fellow  in  Florence  who  will  bring  sweat 
to  your  brow  if  ever  he  is  engaged  in  great  works.'" 


90 

An  incident  characteristic  of  the  times  and  illustrating 
Andrea's  skill  relates  to  his  copy  of  Raphael's  portrait 
group  of  Leo  X.  One  of  the  Medicis  owned  it.  He  was 
asked  by  the  Duke  of  Mantua  to  present  it  to  him.  This 
he  was  unwilling  to  do,  and  yet  he  did  not  wish  to  offend 
the  duke.  So  he  got  Andrea  to  copy  it.  This  copy  he  sent 
to  the  duke.  So  cleverly  was  it  done,  that  Giulio  Romano, 
Raphael's  pupil,  who  painted  portions  of  the  original  him- 
self, did  not  detect  the  fraud. 

But  Del  Sarto  was  not  Raphael  in  spite  of  an  almost 
equal,  possibly  greater,  talent.  He  was  easygoing  and 
fond  of  low  pleasures  and  company.  He  was  a  favorite 
with  men,  belonging  to  at  least  two  jolly  companies,  — the 
Company  of  the  Kettle,  and  the  Company  of  the  Trowel. 

His  wife  was  a  faithless,  jealous,  bad-tempered  woman, 
whose  handsome  face  maybe  seen  in  most  of  his  Madonnas. 
Urged  by  her,  so  the  story  goes,  he  betrayed  the  confidence 
of  the  then  king  of  France,  Francis  I.,  and  appropriated 
to  his  own  and  her  own  use,  money  intrusted  to  him  for 
buying  pictures.  This  was  especially  contemptible,  because 
Francis  was  the  first  and  only  patron  who  paid  him  large 
sums  of  money  for  his  work. 

He  died  of  the  pestilence,  deserted  by  his  wife,  shortly 
after  the  siege  of  Florence. 

Method. — Of  whom  is  this  a  picture?  What  is  St. 
Joseph  doing  ?  Why  is  this  called  the  "Madonna  of  the 
Suck  "  ?  Do  you  like  it  ?  Why  ? 

Tell  them  something  of  Andrea's  life,  and.  if  possible, 
show  them  others  of  his  great  works.  Probably  the  most 
interesting  will  be  "Madonna  of  St.  Francesco,'1' or  "Ala- 


DIOGENES   IN   SEARCH  OF  AX   HONEST   MAN  91 

donna  of  the  Harpy,"  as  it  is  sometimes  called,  and  his  sup- 
posed portrait  of  himself.     (See  pp.  xxi,  ~>.  (>.  7.) 

DIOGENES   IX  SEARdlf   OF  AX  HONEST 

MAN—  SALVATOK  KOSA 
Literature  : 
HANDBOOK  OK  PAIXTIXG  (ITALIAN) 


HISTORY    OK    PAIXTIXG    IN    XORTIIERX 

ITALY.         ......     Cro>re  fnnl  Cavalcdselle 

PRINCES  OF  ART       ......  !//•>•.  rrl/ino 

TRIUMPHS  OF  PERSEVERANCE         .        .     (  'no/x-r 
LIVES  OF  ANCIENT  PHILOSOPHERS         .     AYWAw 

"In  Salvator  the  imagination  is  vigorous,  the  composition 
dexterous  and  clever,  as  in  the  '  Diogenes  '  of  the  Pitti.  .  .  . 
All  are  rendered  valueless  by  coarseness  of  feeling  and 
habitual  non-reference  to  nature.  .  .  . 

"Born  with  a  wild  and  coarse  nature  (how  coarse  I  will 
show  you  soon),  but  nevertheless  an  honest  one,  he  set 
himself  in  youth  hotly  to  the  war  and  cast  himself  care- 
lessly on  the  current  of  life.  Xo  rectitude  of  ledger  lines 
stood  in  his  way;  no  tender  precision  of  household  cus- 
toms; no  calm  succession  of  rural  labor.  Hut  past  his 
half-starved  lips  rolled  the  profusion  of  pitiless  wealth: 
before  him  glared  and  swept  the  troops  of  shameless  pleas- 
ures. Above  him  muttered  Vesuvius;  beneath  his  feet 
shook  the  Solfatara. 

"  In  heart  disdainful,  in  temper  adventurous  ;  conscious  of 
power,  impatient  of  labor,  and  yet  more  of  the  pride  of  the 
patrons  of  his  youth,  he  fled  to  the  Calabrian  hills,  seek- 
ing, not  knowledge,  but  freedom.  !!•  lie  was  to  be  sin- 


02  PICTURE  STUDY 

rounded  by  cruelty  and  deceit,  let  them  at  least  be  those 
of  brave  men  or  savage  beasts,  not  of  the  timorous  and 
contemptible.  Better  the  wrath  of  the  robber,  than  the 
enmity  of  the  priest;  and  the  cunning  of  the  wolf,  than  of 
the  hypocrite. 

"  We  are  accustomed  to  hear  the  south  of  Italy  spoken  of 
as  a  beautiful  country.  Its  mountain  forms  are  graceful 
beyond  all  others,  its  sea  bays  exquisite  in  line  and  hue; 
but  it  is  only  beautiful  in  its  superficial  aspect.  In  closer 
detail  it  is  wild  and  melancholy.  Its  forests  are  sombre- 
leaved,  labyrinth-stemmed;  the  earrubbe,  the  olive,  laurel, 
and  ilex,  are  alike  in  that  strange  feverish  twisting  of  their 
branches,  as  if  in  spasms  of  Inflf-human  pain :  Avernus 
forests;  one  fears  to  break  their  boughs,  lest  they  should 
cry  to  us  from  their  rents;  the  rocks  they  shade  are  of 
ashes,  or  thrice-molten  lava;  iron  sponge,  whose  every  pore 
has  been  filled  with  fire.  Silent  villages,  earthquake- 
shaken,  without  commerce,  without  industry,  without 
knowledge,  without  hope,  gleam  in  a  white  ruin  from  hill- 
side to  hillside;  the  mountain  streams  moan  through  the 
cold  arches  of  their  foundations,  green  with  weed,  and  rage 
over  the  heaps  of  their  fallen  towers.  Far  above,  in  thun- 
der-blue serration,  stand  the  eternal  edges  of  the  angry 
Apennine,  dark  with  rolling  impendence  of  volcanic  cloud. 

"  Yet  even  among  such  scenes  as  these,  Salvator  might  have 
been  calmed  and  exalted,  had  he  been,  indeed,  capable  of 
exaltation.  But  he  was  not  of  high  temper  enough  to  per- 
ceive beauty.  He  had  not  the  sacred  sense  —  the  sense  of 
color;  all  the  loveliest  hues  of  the  Calabrian  air  were  in- 
visible to  him;  the  sorrowful  desolation  of  the  Calabrian 


DIOCJKNES    IX    SEARCH    OF    AN    HONK.ST    MAX. 


94  PICTURE    STUDY 

villages  unfelt.  He  saw  only  what  was  gross  and  terrible, 
—  the  jagged  peak,  the  splintered  tree,  the  flowerless  bank 
of  grass,  the  wandering  weed,  prickly  and  pale.  His 
temper  confirmed  itself  in  evil,  and  became  more  and  more 
fierce  and  morose,  though  not,  I  believe,  cruel,  ungenerous, 
or  lascivious.  I  should  not  suspect  Salvator  of  wantonly 
inflicting  pain.  His  constantly  painting  it  does  not  prove 
that  he  delighted  in  it;  he  felt  a  horror  of  it,  and  in  that 
horror,  fascination.  Also,  he  desired  fame,  and  saw  that 
here  was  an  untried  field  rich  enough  in  morbid  excitement 
to  catch  the  humor  of  his  indolent  patrons.  .  .  . 

"  Of  all  men  whose  work  I  have  ever  studied,  he  gives  me 
the  most  distinctly  the  idea  of  a  lost  spirit.  Michelet  calls 
him  <Ce  damne"  Salvator,'  perhaps  in  a  sense  merely  harsh 
and  violent;  the  epithet  to  me  seems  true  in  a  more  literal, 
more  merciful  sense,  —  'That  condemned  Salvator.'  I  see 
in  him,  notwithstanding  all  his  baseness,  the  last  trace  of 
spiritual  life  in  the  art  of  Europe.  He  was  the  last  man  to 
whom  the  thought  of  a  spiritual  existence  presented  itself 
as  a  conceivable  reality.  All  succeeding  men,  however 
powerful,  —  Rembrandt,  Rubens,  Van  Dyck,  Reynolds,  — 
would  have  mocked  the  idea  of  a  spirit.  They  were  men 
of  the  world;  they  are  never  in  earnest,  and  they  are  never 
appalled.  But  Salvator  was  capable  of  pensiveness,  of 
faith,  and  of  fear.  .  .  .  Helpless  Salvator!  A  little  early 
sympathy,  a  word  of  true  guidance,  perhaps  had  saved  him. 
What  says  he  of  himself?  'Despiser  of  wealth  and  of 
death.'  Two  grand  scorns;  but,  oh,  condemned  Salvator! 
the  question  is  not  for  man  what  he  can  scorn,  but  what  he 
can  love. ''  —  Jolt n  J{n*kin . 


DIOGENES   IN   SEARCH   OF    AN   HONEST   MAN  95 

Diogenes  was  a  famous  cynic  philosopher  who  lived  about 
four  hundred  years  before  Christ,  and  who  believed  that  it 
was  not  Godlike  to  need  anything.  According  to  this,  lie 
must  have  been  very  near  indeed  to  divine,  for  his  house 
was  a  tub,  his  wealth  a  cloak,  a  wallet,  a  staff,  and  a  wooden 
cup.  The  last,  however,  he  threw  away  when  first  he  saw 
a  boy  drink  from  the  hollow  of  his  hand.  He  used  to  roll 
himself  in  hot  sand  in  summer,  embrace  snowy  statues  in 
winter,  in  order  to  inure  himself  to  extremes  of  heat  and 
cold. 

He  was  so  renowned  for  his  wit  and  wisdom,  however, 
that  he  continually  received  visits  from  eminent  people. 
On  one  occasion  Alexander  asked  him,  "What  can  I  do 
for  you?"  To  which  Diogenes  rudely  replied,  "Go  from 
between  me  and  the  sun."  Thereupon  Alexander  is  said 
to  have  exclaimed,  "  Were  I  not  Alexander,  I  would  be 
Diogenes." 

He  Avas  carried  away  by  pirates,  and  offered  for  sale  in  a 
slave  market  of  Crete. 

"Who  wants  a  master  ?"  he  cried.  "Whoever  buys  me 
must  obey  me  as  a  man  obeys  his  physician." 

He  was  bought  by  a  wealthy,  generous  man  of  Corinth, 
who  liberated  him  and  employed  him  to  teach  his  children. 

This  picture  alludes  to  the  well-known  story  of  his  wan- 
dering about  the  streets  in  broad  daylight  carrying  a  lantern. 

"  For  what  are  you  looking  '.' "  asked  his  fellow-citizens. 

"For  an  honest  man,"  was  his  caustic  reply. 

Salvator  Rosa  (101 5-1  (>?.'->)  was  a  famous  Neapolitan 
painter,  as  well  as  something  of  a  musician  and  poet. 


%  PICTURE    STUDY 

Tradition  says,  too.  that  lie  was  also  a  brigand,  albeit  in 
the  interests  of  his  art;  but  this  is  scarcely  possible.  His 
father,  a  land  surveyor,  was  determined  to  make  of  him 
a  lawyer.  But  Salvator  was  determined  to  be  a  painter, 
and  successively  and  in  secret  studied  with  his  uncle,  his 
brother-in-law,  and,  at  last,  with  Ribera.  Every  moment 
else  that  he  could,  he  devoted  to  painting  and  studying  the 
Neapolitan  coast.  He  took  with  him  no  companion  and 
sought  for  desolate  and  romantic  spots,  not  only  along  the 
beach,  but  also  in  the  mountains. 

AVhen  he  was  seventeen,  his  father  died,  leaving  his 
widow  and  her  five  children  utterly  without  means  of  sup- 
port. In  this  extremity,  Salvator  sold  his  landscapes  for 
a  few  pence  each.  Among  the  purchasers  was  Lanfranco, 
who  recognized  his  talent  and  advised  him  to  go  to  Rome. 

Salvator  went  to  Home  when  he  was  twenty.  He  studied 
hard,  but.  taking  the  fever,  lie  returned  to  Xaples,  and 
began  painting  his  famous  battle  pieces,  which,  however, 
excited  no  attention  at  the  time.  Later  he  painted  a 
picture  of  "Titvus  torn  by  the  Vulture,"  which  went  to 
Rome  and  created  a  sensation.  Thither  Salvator  followed  it. 

"By  this  time  he  had  several  strings  to  his  bow. 
Although  painting  was  still  his  dearest  art,  he  determined 
to  become  famous  first  as  musician,  then,  in  succession, 
as  a  poet,  an  impvovisatore,  and  an  actor.  He  was  success- 
ful in  all  these  ambitions.  His  work  brought  him  in  a 
steady  stream  of  money,  which  he  as  steadily  kept  in  still 
more  active  circulation.  He  is  said  to  have  taken  part  in 
the  revolt  of  the  fisherman  autocrat.  Masaniello.  against 
Spain.  The  story  goes  that  lie.  with  nine  other  painters. 


BALTHASAK  (.»7 

formed  a  Company  of  Death,  whose  duty  it  was  to  search 
out  Spaniards  in  the  street  and  put  an  end  to  them  without 
further  ceremony. 

Salvator's  popularity  in  Rome  was  now  nearly  at  an  end. 
His  satires  in  verse  and  in  drawing  had  made  him  many 
enemies.  Fortunately,  just  then  lie  was  called  to  Florence 
by  one  of  the  Medici.  Here  he  repeated  his  early  tri- 
umphs of  Koine.  His  last  years  were  spent  in  Rome, 
where  he  died,  it  is  said,  in  a  contrite  frame  of  mind.  At 
any  rate,  he  married  on  his  deathbed  the  mother  of  his 
two  sons. 

Method.  —  Is  it  daylight  or  night?  AVhy  do  you  think 
so  ?  It  is  daylight.  Why  does  the  man  in  the  centre 
carry  a  lantern?  Who  else  is  wondering?  Which  of 
these  men  understand  Diogenes  ? 

What  else  do  you  know  of  Diogenes  ? 

(live  them  some  idea  of  Salvator's  life,  and  show  them 
one  of  his  brigands,  or  one  of  the  wild  landscapes.  (See 
pp.  xxi.  ."5,  (J,  7.) 

I'h'  1  X(  'K    H.  1  /, 777. ISA  R  —  VEL AS QUEZ 

Literature : 
VKI.ASI^CK/  AND   HIS  WORKS,   ANNALS 

OK   TIIK   AKTISTS  OK   SPAIN     .          .       .S'/V   II'.  Stir/iiitj-Masiri-ll 
VKI.AMJIK/.  AND   MIIMLI.O    .         .         .      ('itrti* 
HANDBOOK   OK   PAINTINC;   (SPANISH)     -      Kmjli-i- 
Vi-:i.As<jrK/      .....         S/ini-c  ((Jivut.  Artist  Series', 
TIIK  SPANISH    MA^TKIJS          .         .  \\'<txlil>iirn 

BiocKAi'HiKS  OF    i  in:   FINK   AKT*         .      S/>umt<  r 

AIM  ,loi  K.NAI..  vol.  1.  p.  :!•'!:!:     .M  AC.  A/.  INK  oi    Ai:  i .  \  ol.  <i.  j..  SL'  ; 
LMTI.NVOTT.  vol.  •")!.  p.  To;    NATION,  vol.  .">!).  pp.  '•>-'•'>.  :5;>'.i. 
ii 


98  PTC'ITRK    STt'DY 

"  It  seems  not  improbable  that  the  cause  of  Velasquez's 
return  from  Italy  at  such  a  time  of  the  year,  and  during  a 
furlough  which  he  would  probably  have  wished  extended 
to  the  furthest  possible  limits,  was  that  he  received  a 
hint  from  Olivarez  that  the  king  was  getting  impatient.  It 
was  noAv  between  one  and  two  years  since  the  youthful 
Balthasar  Carlos  had  made  his  first  appearance  in  the 
world,  and  parental  affection,  seeking  to  preserve  to  pos- 
terity the  lineaments  of  its  progeny,  does  not  brook  too 
protracted  a  delay.  .  .  . 

"  His  earliest  essay  after  arriving  at  Madrid  appears  to 
have  been  some  reminiscences  of  the  baby  prince.  .  .  . 
As  the  child  grew  in  years  he  of  course  became  the  fre- 
quent subject  of  the  artist's  pencil.  In  some  of  the  por- 
traits he  appears  before  us  in  hunting  dress,  accompanied 
by  his  dogs;  in  others,  we  see  him  perched  upon  horse- 
back, galloping  across  the  breezy  plain.  It  is  in  this 
latter  guise  that  he  figures  in  a  large  work  in  Madrid,  of 
which  there  is  a  smaller  repetition  at  Dulwich,  and  replicas 
elsewhere.  The  Dulwich  example  presents  the  little  cava- 
lier dressed  in  a  coat  of  black  velvet  enriched  with  em- 
broidery, crossed  by  a  crimson  scarf,  the  ends  of  which 
stream  fluttering  in  the  wind.  He  wears  high  knee  boots, 
a  broad  white  lace  collar,  and  a  black  hat  with  a  feather. 
There  is  a  distance  of  blue-capped  sierra.  We  see  him 
nearly  full-face  as  he  comes  bounding  out  of  the  scene. 
His  expression  is  very  bright  and  pleasing.  .  .  .  This 
young  prince  did  not  live  to  come  to  the  throne :  lie  fell 
a  victim  to  the  smallpox  in  Saragossa  at  the  early  age  of 
sixteen,  and  there  in  the  Cathedral  his  heart  now  rests." 

—  Edwin  Stowe. 


PUIXCE    BALTHASAR. 


100  PICTURE    STUDY 

"'•'  He  was  a  good  shot  at  ten,  and  able  to  kill  game  while 
riding  at  full  speed.  He  was  an  excellent  student  too.  Hut 
his  father,  himself  the  best  horseman  in  Spain,  was  prouder 
of  the  lad's  athletic  achievements  than  of  his  fine  scholar- 
ship. He  died  at  sixteen.  Of  his  death  Philip  writes  :  — 
******* 

"  '  Marquis,  we  must  all  of  us  yield  to  God's  will,  and  I 
more  than  others.  It  has  pleased  him  to  take  my  son 
from  me  about  an  hour  ago.  .Mine  is  now  such  a  grief  as 
you  can  conceive  at  such  a  loss.' 

"  More  cheerful,  more  various,  and  more  splendid  is  the 
great  Velasquez.  Almost  all  his  masterpieces  are  there 
(Madrid).  They  form  a  world:  everything  is  pictured  in 
them  —  war,  the  court,  the  street,  the  tavern,  Paradise. 
Tt  is  a  gallery  of  dwarfs,  idiots,  beggars,  buffoons,  revellers, 
comedians,  kings,  warriors,  martyrs,  and  gods,  all  alive 
and  speaking,  in  bold  and  novel  attitudes,  with  serene 
brow  and  smiling  lips,  full  of  animation  and  vigor;  the 
great  painting  of  Count-Duke  de  Olivarez  on  horseback, 
the  celebrated  picture  of  '  The  Beggars,'  of  'The  Weav- 
ers,' of  'The  Revellers,'  of  'The  Forge  of  Vulcan,'  and 
of  'The  Surrender  of  Breda,' — large  canvases  full  of 
figures  that  seem  to  be  stepping  out  of  the  frame,  which 
on  once  seeing  you  remember  distinctly  by  some  trifling 
characteristic,  a  gesture  or  a  shadow  on  the  face,  as  though 
they  were  real  persons  whom  you  have  just  met;  people 
with  whom  you  seem  to  have  talked,  and  of  whom  you 
think  long  afterward  as  of  acquaintances  of  a  forgotten 
time;  people  who  might  inspire  cheerfulness  and  provoke 
a  smile  of  admiration,  causing  you  to  regret  that  it  is  pos- 


HUNCH    BALTllASAi;  101 

sible  only  to  enjoy  them  with  the  eyes,  mid  not  to  mingle 
with  them  mid  share  a  little  of  their  exuberant  life.  This 
is  not  the  result  of  a  preconceived  opinion  which  the  name 
of  the  great  artist  has  given,  nor  need  one  be  a  connoisseur 
of  art  to  experience  it.  The  poor  ignorant  woman  and  the 
boy  stop  before  these  pictures,  clap  their  hands,  and  laugh. 
It  is  Nature  painted  with  a  fidelity  higher  than  any  imagina- 
tion. One  forgets  the  painter,  does  not  think  of  the  art, 
nor  try  to  discover  its  meaning,  but  says:  'This  is  true! 
This  is  the  very  thing!  It  is  the  very  picture  T  had  in  my 
mind!'  One  would  say  that  Velasquez  has  not  put  any- 
thing of  himself  in  it,  but  that  his  hand  has  only  drawn  the 
lines  and  put  the  colors  on  the  canvas  from  a  likeness 
which  reproduced  the  very  persons  Avhom  he  was  painting. 
.  .  .  The  persons  in  Velasquez's  paintings  melt  into  the 
crowd  of  friends  and  acquaintances;  the  neighbors  and 
strangers  of  our  whole  life  present  themselves  and  enter- 
tain us  without  our  even  remembering  that  we  have  seen 
them  on  the  canvas."  —7?f7/»o»r/o  <1c  Amfris. 

"  The  other  painter  whom  I  would  give  you  as  an  instance 
of  this  gentleness  is  a  man  of  another  nation;  on  the  whole. 
I  suppose,  one  of  the  most  cruel  civili/ed  nations  in  the 
\vorld  —  the  Spaniards.  They  produced  but  one  great 
painter,  onlv  one;  but  he  among  the  very  greatest  ot 
painters.  —  Velasquez.  You  would  not  suppose,  from 
looking  at  Yelasque/.'s  portraits  generally,  thai  he  was  an 
especially  kind  or  good  man;  you  perceive  a  peculiar 
sternness  about  them,  for  they  were  as  true  as  steel,  and 
the  persons  whom  he  had  to  paint  being  not  generally 


102  PICTURE   STUDY 

kind  or  good  people,  they  were  stern  in  expression,  and 
Velasquez  gave  the  sternness;  but  he  had  precisely  the 
same  intense  perception  of  truth,  the  same  marvellous 
instinct  for  the  rendering  of  all  natural  soul  and  all  natural 
form  that  our  Keynolds  had.  Let  me,  then,  read  you  his 
character  as  it  is  given  by  Mr.  Stirling  of  Kier:  — 

"Certain  charges,  of  what  nature  we  are  not  informed, 
brought  against  him  after  his  death,  made  it  necessary 
for  his  executor,  Fuensalida,  to  refute  them  at  a  private 
audience  granted  to  him  by  the  king  for  that  purpose. 
After  listening  to  the  defence  of  his  friend,  Philip  imme- 
diately made  answer,  '  I  can  believe  all  that  you  say  of  the 
excellent  disposition  of  Diego  Velasquez.' 

"  Having  lived  for  half  of  his  life  in  courts,  he  was  yet 
capable  both  of  gratitude  and  generosity;  and  in  his  mis- 
fortunes, he  could  remember  the  early  kindness  of  Olivarez. 
.  .  .  Xo  mean  jealousy  ever  influenced  his  conduct  to  his 
brother  artists;  he  could  afford  not  only  to  acknowledge 
the  merits,  but  to  forgive  the  malice,  of  his  rivals.  His 
character  was  of  that  rare  and  happy  kind  in  which  high 
intellectual  power  is  combined  with  indomitable  strength 
of  will,  and  a  winning  sweetness  of  temper,  and  which 
seldom  fails  to  raise  the  possessor  above  his  fellow-men, 
making  his  life  a 

"  'laurelled  victory,  and  smooth  success 
Bestrewed  before  his  feet.' 

—  From  Tirn  Fa/h*.  John  Iitinkin. 

"Everything  that  Velasquez  does  may  be  taken  as  abso- 
lutely right  by  the  student." — Jtunkiu. 


PKIXCK    BALTHASAR  103 

>;  His  portraits  battle  description  and  praise.  They  must 
be  seen.  He  elevated  that  humble  branch  to  the  dignity 
of  history.  He  dre\v  the  minds  of  men  —  they  live. 
breathe,  and  seem  ready  to  walk  out  of  their  frames.  His 
power  of  painting  circumambient  air,  his  knowledge  of 
lineal  and  aerial  perspective,  the  gradation  of  tone  in  light, 
shadow,  and  color,  give  an  absolute  concavity  to  the  Hut 
surface  of  his  canvas:  \ve  look  into  a  space,  into  a  room, 
into  the  reflection  of  a  mirror.  The  freshness,  individu- 
ality, and  identity  of  each  person  are  quite  startling,  nor 
can  we  doubt  the  anecdote  related  of  Philip  IV.,  who,  mis- 
taking for  the  man  the  portrait  of  Admiral  I'areja  in  a 
dark  corner  of  Velasquez's  room,  exclaimed,  —  lie  had 
been  ordered  to  sea,  —  '  What  !  still  here  ?  '  .  .  .  . 

4<Xo  virgin  ever  descended  into  his  studio.  No  cherubs 
hovered  around  his  palette.  He  did  not  work  for  priest 
or  ecstatic  anchorite,  but  for  -plumed  kings  and  booted 
knights;  hence  the  neglect  and  partial  failure  of  his  holy 
and  mythological  pictures,  —  holy,  like  those  of  Caravaggio. 
in  nothing  but  name,  —  groups  rather  of  low  life,  and  that 
so  truly  painted  as  still  more  to  mar,  by  a  treatment  not  in 
harmony  with  the  subject,  the  elevated  sentiment." 


"Velasquez  is  the  only  Spanish  painter  who  seems  to  have 
made  an  attempt  at  landscape;  I  have  seen  some  of  his  most 
original  and  daring.  Titian  seems  to  be  his  model;  and. 
although  he  lived  before  the  time  of  Claude  and  Salvator 
Rosa,  he  appears  to  have  combined  the  breadth  and  pic- 
turesque effect  for  which  these  two  painters  are  remark- 


104  I'IC'tTKK    STt'DV 

able.  ...  Of  hi  in  I  saw  a  rich  landscape  at  Madrid,  that 
for  breadth  and  richness  I  have  seldom  seen  equalled.  .  .  . 
It  was  too  abstract  to  have  much  detail  or  imitation;  but 
it  had  the  very  sun  we  see,  and  the  air  we  breathe  —  the 
very  soul  and  spirit  of  nature."-  —  Dai'id  Wilki?. 

"Of  Velasquez  I  do  not  know  how  to  speak  with  becom- 
ing and  sufficient  respect.  Although  his  mind  did  not  lead 
him  to  depict  the  perfect  types  of  sublimity,  grandeur,  and 
beauty  affected  by  Michelangelo,  Raphael,  and  Leonardo, 
and  although  we  rarely  find  in  him  the  glow  and  fervor  of 
a  Titian  or  a  Tintoretto,  he  seems  to  me  to  have  been  the 
painter  who  certainly  attained  the  power  of  representing 
all  that  can  be  seen  of  a  picture  with  greater  truth  and 
greater  facility  than  any  other  artist  that  ever  lived.  In 
the  method  of  his  picture  he  realizes  perfection,  and  in 
his  best  works  there  is  more  solidity  where  solidity  should 
appear,  and  more  air  where  air  should  appear,  than  I  have 
ever  been  able  to  find  in  the  paintings  of  any  other  master.'' 

-  l)i'jl>n   \\'>/<ift. 

"At  the  present  day  his  marvellous  technique  and  strong 
individuality  have  given  him  a  power  in  European  art  such 
as  is  exercised  by  no  other  of  the  old  masters.  Acquainted 
\vith  all  the  Italian  schools,  the  friend  of  the  foremost 
painters  of  his  day,  he  was  strong  enough  to  withstand 
every  external  influence  and  to  work  out  for  himself  the 
development  of  his  own  nature  and  his  own  principles  of 
art.  A  realist  of  the  realists,  he  painted  only  what  he 
saw;  consequently  his  imagination  seems  limited.  His 


PHIXCE    BALTIIASAK  10.") 

religious  conceptions  arc  of  the  earth  earthy,  although 
some  of  his  works,  such  as  "The  Crucifixion,"  ami  "The 
Scourging,"  are  characterized  by  an  intensity  of  pathos  in 
which  lie  ranks  second  to  no  painter.  His  men  and  women 
seem  to  breathe;  his  horses  are  full  of  action  and  his  dogs 
of  life;  so  quick  and  close  is  his  grasp  of  the  subject.'' 

—  J.  F.   White. 

])iego  da  Silva  Velasquez  (laD'J-HJOO)  was  the  son  of  a 
Spanish  lawyer  in  Seville,  ])a  Silva,  the  son  taking  his 
mother's  name,  Velasquez,  according  to  a  common  Spanish 
usage.  He  received  an  excellent  education,  particularly 
in  the  languages  and  philosophy.  His  earliest  teacher  in 
painting  was  Hen-era,  from  whom  he  learned  to  use  brushes 
with  long  bristles,  by  means  of  which  his  colors  seem  floated 
on  the  canvas,  as  well  as  ideas  of  method  and  treatment, 
from  which  lie  never  departed.  Nevertheless,  the  harsh 
temper  and  the  rough  treatment  which  he  received  from 
this  master  made  him  leave  him  speedily.  His  next  teacher 
was  J'acheco,  whose  daughter  he  married;  which,  perhaps. 
accounts  for  his  five  years  of  study  with  the  father,  who 
was  a  commonplace  ;uid  pedantic  painter. 
Of  Velasquez,  Paeheco  writes  as  follows:  — 
"Diego  da  Silva  Velasquez- — -to  whom,  after  live  years  of 
education  and  instruction,  1  gave  my  daughter  in  marriage, 
moved  by  his  virtue,  his  purity,  and  his  good  parts,  as 
well  as  by  hope  derived  from  his  great,  natural  genius.  It 
is  greater  to  be  his  master  than  his  father-in-law,  and  it  is. 
therefore,  just  to  overthrow  the  boldness  of  a  certain  person 
wlio  desires  to  claim  this  ylorv;  taking  from  me  the  crown 


106  PICTURE    STUDY 

of  my  declining  years.  I  hold  it  no  disgrace  for  the  dis- 
ciple to  surpass  his  master:  Leonardo  da  Vinci  lost  nothing 
by  having  Raphael  for  a  disciple;  nor  Giorgione,  Titian; 
nor  Plato,  Aristotle.  .  .  . 

"  He  kept  an  apprentice,  a  peasant  lad,  who  served  him 
for  a  model  in  different  actions  and  postures,  —  sometimes 
crying,  sometimes  laughing, — till  lie  had  conquered  all 
difficulty  of  expression." 

This  was  the  foundation,  without  doubt,  of  his  excellence 
in  portraiture.  Afterward,  when  he  had  become  famous, 
envious  critics  used  to  say  that  he  could,  therefore,  paint 
nothing  but  the  head.  To  this,  Velasquez  caustically 
responded  that  they  flattered  him;  that  for  his  part  he 
knew  no  one  of  them  of  whom  he  could  say  that  they 
painted  heads  thoroughly  well. 

Pie  went  to  Madrid,  accompanied  only  by  his  servant,  to 
see  more  of  the  world,  and  also  to  study  its  fine  collection 
of  Titians,  his  favorite  painter.  The  following  year  he 
was  summoned  to  return  by  Philip  IV. 's  all-powerful  min- 
ister, Olivarez,  whom  we  know  intimately  by  Velasquez's 
subsequent  and  magnificent  portrait  of  him.  On  this  jour- 
ney he  was  accompanied  by  his  father-in-law,  and  the 
expenses  were  paid  by  the  king.  The  next  year,  the  king 
paid  the  cost  of  the  removal  of  his  whole  family  to  the 
capital,  and  this  became  his  home  for  the  remainder  of  his 
life.  He  was  not  only  the  court  painter,  but  counted  the 
king  himself  as  his  warm,  personal  friend,  a  fact  which 
ought  to  be  remembered  to  the  credit  of  Philip. 

In  1628  occurred  Rubens's  second  visit  to  Madrid,  and 
Velasquez  was  appointed  by  the  king  to  be  his  guide  to  the 


I'KINCE   BALTIIASAK  107 

art  treasures  of  Spain.  He  had  come  on  a  diplomatic  mis- 
sion, but,  nevertheless,  he  found  time  to  paint  and  to  spend 
a  great  deal  of  time  with  Velasquez.  In  spite  of  the  fact 
that  Rubens  was  in  the  very  zenith  of  his  popularity,  a 
brilliant  painter,  and  a  fascinating  courtier,  he  effected  no 
change  in  the  art  of  the  strong,  self-centred  Spaniard.  J5ut 
he  did  inspire  him  with  a  strong  desire  to  visit  Italy. 
The  king  gave  his  reluctant  consent;  generously,  however, 
continuing  his  salary,  and  giving  him  in  addition  a  hand- 
some present,  as  did,  also,  Olivarez. 

Gradually  after  this,  perhaps  as  he  assimilated  the  results 
of  this  visit,  his  color  became  warmer  and  more  transparent, 
there  was  less  of  heavy  shadow,  and  the  browns  of  his 
earlier  works  were  replaced  with  grays.  Nevertheless, 
Velasquez  remained  Velasquez,  "racy  of  the  soil." 

A  second  visit  to  Italy  was  made,  this  time  at  the  king's 
command,  to  collect  works  of  art  for  an  academy.  On  his 
return,  he  was  made  Koyal  Quartermaster;  a  position  of 
great  honor,  but  of  such  multifarious  and  exacting  duties 
that  one  regrets  that  he  should  have  accepted,  since  it 
absorbed  much  of  his  time. 

It  was,  indeed,  fatigue  and  exposure  undergone  by  him 
in  this  capacity,  preparing  for  a  meeting  of  the  French  and 
Spanish  monarchs,  that  was  the  cause  of  his  death. 

Method.  — •  Do  you  like  this  picture?  Why?  Who  was 
the  boy?  Who  was  the  painter? 

Velasquez  has  painted  so  many  great  pictures  that  it  is 
difficult  to  select  a  few.  Without  doubt,  his  portrait  of 
Olivarez  is  one  of  his  masterpieces,  but  its  very  greatness 
in  portraying  the  character  of  the  man,  renders  it  unsuit- 


108  P1CTURK    STfDV 

able  for  children.  ''The  Tapestry  Weavers.''  and  "The 
Maid  of  Honor,"  and  "The  Meeting  of  the  Artists,"  and 
"Surrender  of  Breda,"  are  among  his  best,  but  they  are 
too  good  for  superficial  study.  The  little  Infanta  with  her 
hoops  in  the  Louvre,  and  /Esop  (see  p.  49),  and  his  por- 
trait of  himself  will  certainly  interest  the  children. 

The    noble,    manly    character   of    Velasquez    should    be 
understood  by  the  children.      (See  pp.  xxi.  ;">.  (>,  7.) 


FEBRUARY 

(Tin-:  (IKKAT  MASTKIJS — ('<mtinnr<l} 


FEBRUARY 

(Tun  GREAT  MASTKUS —  Continued) 

PORTRAIT   OF  AX  OLD    \VOMAX—  EEMBEANDT 

Literature : 
Tin:  ()u>  MA  STICKS  OK   BEMJITM  AND 

Hoi. i. AND    ......     Fronientin 

Oi.i>  Di'Tcn  AND  FLKMISII  MASTICKS     .     Cole  and  J.  C.  fan  Dyke 
RKMBUANDT       .....     Molldl  ((iivat  Artist  Series) 

RICMBKANDT      ......     Michd 

REMBRANDT,  A  ROMANCE  OK  HOLLAND  .     Walter  ('ranxtun  Lnrneil. 
REMBKANDT      ......     Stceetsrr 

ART  JOCKNAL,  vol.  •'}.  pp.  !*,  4") ;  vol.  8,  p.  •>> ;  vol.  -10,  p.  '2:5: 
CK.NITKY,  vol.  2-),  pp.  HJo,  170;  XINKTKKNTH  CKNTTKY,  vol.  ;57, 
p.  lli'J;  NATION,  vol.  f>S,  p.  l:{;  I'TISLIC  OPINION,  vol.  15,  [>.  L'.IT  ; 
LIVINC;  A<;ic,  vol.  i200,  p.  75-");  BLACKWOOD,  vol.  1")4,  p.  (i7.~>;  I'OKT- 
KOI.IO.  vol.  8,  p.  114;  vol.  2:},  p.  Ill ;  MAGAZINE  OF  AUT,  vol.  8,  p.  Us. 
I'ICTUKK.S  BY  REMBRANDT  .  .  .  .  .  /'.  11'.  <lil<l<-r 
SAKIA;  in  (COLONIAL  BALLADS,  SONNETS,  AND 

OTMICK   VEKSE    .......     Mr*.  Pre.-sfon 

"Rembrandt,  like  Michelangelo,  created  a  world  for  him- 
self. Whether  he  painted  or  etched,  he  transports  us, 
with  our  whole  soul,  into  that  which  he  represents.  His 
portraits  are  like  sudden  apparitions  of  people  whom  we 
watch;  just  as,  unseen,  by  night,  we  might  look  into  a 
strung!1  room  through  a  window.  He  likes  to  heighten  his 
charm  by  a  striking  light,  but  lie  does  not  nerd  it.'1 

—  I  !<•  ruin  it  n  I <  i'i  in  in. 
Ill 


112  PICTURE    STUDY 

"  The  originality  of  his  genius  lies  especially  in  the  no- 
bility with  which  he  has  endowed  each  of  his  models;  it 
is  an  indelible  mark.  His  magic  pencil  gives  to  each  some- 
thing of  his  own  peculiar  grace, — greater  stateliness  and 
elegance,  a  countenance  expressive  of  more  frankness,  grace 
in  the  wearing  of  adornments,  taste  in  the  choice  of  silks, 
satins,  laces,  and  pearls." • —  Wauters. 

"  \  came  to  know  Rembrandt;  he  did  not  repel  me,  but  lie 
blinded  me."  —  Millet. 

"  The  feeling  akin  to  poetic  excitement  that  moves  us 
when  we  look  at  his  work,  comes  to  us  because  we  are  al- 
lowed to  see,  with  finer  eyes  than  our  own,  effects  of  light 
that  are  as  familiar  to  us  as  the  day.  The  human  hands  and 
faces  of  unidealized  types,  the  hues  and  textures  of  com- 
mon stuffs,  are  revealed  by  the  ordinary  light,  sometimes 
more  shadowy  than  usual,  which  we  may  see  in  any  inte- 
rior. To  make  sucli  scenes  effective,  the  painter  must 
have  had  a  knowledge  of  form,  and  a  passionate  admira- 
tion for  light.  That  he  beautified  form  so  little,  in  the 
ordinary  sense  of  the  word,  shows  that  he  regarded  it  not 
as  an  abstract  existence,  but  mainly  as  a  deflector  of  light, 
as  a  producer  of  shadowy  abysses  and  depths,  as  the  cause 
of  passages,  gradations,  culminations,  crescendoes,  and 
decrescendoes,  in  the  impalpable  and  airy  inhabitant  of 
space."-  —  Art  Journal,  February,  1899,  R.  .1.  M.  Stevenson. 

"To  feel  Rembrandt  truly,  it  is  not  enough  to  be  an  artist 
or  an  amateur  picture  fancier, — one  should  be  something1 
of  a  poet,  too."  —  3/r.s.  Jainenon, 


Keuil.ran.il 
I'OKTUAJT    OF    AN    OLD    WOMAN. 


114  PICTURE   STUDY 

Rembrandt  van  Rijn  (1607-1669)  was  the  son  of  a  Ley- 
den  miller,  who  hoped  to  make  of  him  a  learned  man,  and 
with  that  end  in  view  sent  him  to  the  high  school.  l>ut 
Rembrandt  had  early  determined  to  be  an  artist.  His  first 
models  were  the  good  people  of  his  native  city,  including 
his  own  family,  particularly  his  mother,  his  sister,  and 
himself.  At  various  times  he  painted  not  less  than  fifty 
portraits  of  himself,  many  of  which  have  become  famous. 
When  he  was  about  twenty-two  years  old,  his  fame  was 
already  so  great  that  the  art-loving  people  of  Amsterdam 
urged  him  to  come  to  them.  Accordingly,  in  1683,  he 
moved  there,  and  there  at  last  he  died. 

On  his  way  to  Amsterdam,  he  stopped  at  Haarlem  to 
worship  at  the  shrine  of  Franz  Hals.  He  found  him  in  a 
tavern.  According  to  Mr.  Larned,  this  is  the  theory  of 
art  that  he  enunciated  to  Rembrandt:  — 

"  Wine  is  a  good  creature,  truly  the  handmaid  of  art. 
Do  you  know  my  'Mandolin  Player'?  1  painted  him 
after  a  goodly  feast  at  this  very  tavern,  and  he  is  full  to 
the  brim  with  merriment  and  wine.  Smiling  will  not  go 
out  of  fashion  as  long  as  they  can  see  him.  Don't  be  seri- 
ous, my  boy.  There  are  not  any  monks  in  the  kingdom 
of  art." 

He  tells  him,  too,  to  remember  that  he  is  a  Hollander, 
and  not  an  Italian.  This  secret  of  Franz  Hals's  greatness 
helped  to  make  Rembrandt  what  he  was,  — the  greatest  of 
all  the  Dutch  artists. 

His  success  in  Amsterdam  was  phenomenal.  Its  first 
great  triumph  was  the  commission  to  paint  Dr.  Tulp  and 
his  class  in  anatomy.  Determined  to  paint  these  men  as 


POHTKAIT    OF    AX    OLD    WOMAN  11") 

they  really  were,  he  hid  himself  in  the  classroom,  watching 
them  at  their  work.  The  result  was  the  famous  "  Lesson 
in  Anatomy."  Larned  thus  describes  the  effect  of  this 
wonderful  painting  on  the  great  Dr.  Tulp  himself:  — 

"Involuntarily  the  grave  and  dignified  doctor  started 
back,  and  lifted  one  hand  in  a  gesture  of  amazement.  He 
saw  in  a  moment  that  no  guild  picture  like  this  had  ever 
been  painted.  AYhere  was  the  banqueting  table?  Where 
were  the  meats  and  pies  and  fruits,  the  wine  and  the  beer? 
Xobody  ever  painted  guild  pictures  without  these  accesso- 
ries. And  there,  surely,  was  the  corpse  on  the  table,  and 
he  himself  in  the  act  of  dissecting  it,  the  doctors  crowding 
round,  with  the  intensity  of  intellectual  concentration  in 
their  eager  faces.  Why,  this  Avould  be  a  terrible  picture, 
but  how  fascinating!  In  a  moment  the  keen  mind  of  the 
doctor  perceived  the  power  of  the  work;  his  trained  intel- 
lect grasped  at  once  something  of  the  artist's  meaning,  and 
he  saw  that  if  this  was  a  new  departure,  it  was  a  famous 
one." 

The  picture  was  received  with  the  most  enthusiastic 
admiration,  and  'Rembrandt  declared  to  be  the  greatest 
painter  of  Holland,  that  is  to  say,  of  the  world. 

Two  years  later  he  married  the  beautiful,  fair-haired 
Saskia,  whom  we  all  know  and  love  because  of  his  numer- 
ous and  lovely  portraits  of  her.  Saskia,  brought  him  a 
handsome  marriage  portion  and  a  host  of  good  friends  in 
Amsterdam. 

Then  followed  ten  years  of  happiness  and  luxury  such 
as  an  artist  has  seldom  enjoyed.  In  his  house,  a  palace  of 
art  in  itself,  dwelt  with  him  his  lovely  wife,  devoted  both 


IK)  I'lC'ITUK    S'lTDV 

to  him  and  his  work.  He  was  free,  too,  to  paint  what  lie 
pleased,  sure  of  the  praise  and  adulation  of  all  Holland. 

The  beginning  of  his  misfortunes  was  the  death  of  Sas- 
kia.  In  the  same  year  he  painted  "The  Night  Watch." 
This  is  really  the  picture  of  twenty-nine  civic  guards,  rush- 
ing pell-mell  from  their  (dub-house.  In  spite  of  the  mis- 
leading title,  the  scene  is  represented  as  in  full  sunlight. 
Those  on  whom  this  wonderful  light  fell  were  delighted 
with  the  picture,  but  those  in  the  shadow  —  and  they  were 
the  large  majority  —  did  not  like  it  at  all.  "  It  mattered 
little,"  says  Larned,  "that  each  portrait  was  a  masterpiece. 
These  thrifty  Dutchmen  had  paid  their  money  for  their 
portraits.  Why  put  them  in  the  background?  Why  show 
only  a  head  when  they  had  bodies,  too,  of  which  they  were 
very  proud?  They  would  go  to  Van  der  Heist  and  get  their 
money's  worth  in  full-sized  figures.  And  go  they  did.''7 

From  this  time  misfortune  pursued  him.  His  beautiful 
house,  with  its  tine  collections,  was  sold  to  pay  his  debts. 
The  last  years  of  his  life  were  spent  in  a  small  room  over 
a  print  shop,  watched  over  by  a  faithful  little  peasant, 
whom,  according  to  some  authorities,  lie  married. 

In  spite  of  his  misfortunes  and  unhappiness,  his  work 
suffered  neither  in  quantity  nor  in  quality.  Indeed,  the 
picture  of  "The  Syndics,'"  which  belongs  to  this  period,  is 
by  many  considered  finer,  even,  than  "The  Night  Watch." 

He  kept  on  painting  to  the  end.  He  was  found  dead 
in  a  chair  before  an  easel,  on  which  rested  a  half-finished 
picture. 

Method.  • — -Is  this  a  fancy  picture  or  the  portrait  of  a  real 
woman?  AVhy  do  you  think  so? 


1'OKTH.UT    <>K    Kl'HKN.s  117 

Give  them  some  idea  of  Rembrandt  and  of  Saskia's  devo- 
tion to  him.  Sho\v  them  as  many  of  his  other  masterpieces 
as  possible.  ''The  School  of  Anatomy,"  "The  Ni^ht 
Watch,''  "The  Syndics,"  all  \vill  repay  careful  study,  but 
to  show  them  without  a  word  of  explanation  will  be  time 
wasted. 

His  various  portraits  of  himself  and  Saskia,  of  himself 
alone,  of  Saskia,  of  his  mother,  the  mill  (see  Part.  II). 
are  comparatively  simple,  and  yet  full  of  interests,  espe- 
ciallv  in  connection  with  his  dramatic  life.  (See  pp.  xxi. 
.">.  <>.  7.) 

/'Oh'Th'AIT  <}F  IiniHELF—  RUBENS 

Literature : 

TIIK  (  )LD  MASTKKS  OK  BKLOIUM  AND  HOLLAND     Fromentin 
I'KTKI:   PAIL   UIIJKNS     (Great  Artist  Series)      <  'Im /•/<>•  IT.  Ki-n 
KriiKNs.  His  Ln  K  AND  \Voi;i<  .  (edited  by  .Mrs.  Jameson )  }\'<I<I</I-H 
TiioroiiTs   Aisorr   Ai;r    .....     lliinii-i-lnn 

(  )|.D     1'AIN TKI!S  .......        l.i'' 

l)IO(ilJAI'IIIKS    OF    TIIK     FlNK     .\HTS    .  .  .       S/inmn'r 

CKNITI:V.  vol.  '_J*.  |i.  IS:> ;  I'OUTKOI.IO.  vol.  s.  ji.  1  ;  vol.  :;."),  ]>.  TiiiS; 
AMT.IoniNAL.  vol.  1,  pp.  9,  41,  77;  vol.  <>,]>.  :}()'.] :  vol.  11.  pp.  -Jl.  .">:): 
vol.  14.  pp.  17.  4!),  si  ;  HAUI-KI;.  vol.  .'><!.  p.  s:5ii:  LIVINC;  ACK.  vol. 
ll'l.  ]>.  •_!*:! ;  NATION,  vol.  lid.  p.  odd:  MI.ACKWOOD.  vol.  Hi',  p.  ."id  I  : 

'I'KMl'LK.    1)AK.   Vol.  '_'!!.   p.  o  I'J. 

"  Rid>ens  was  perhaps  the  greatest  master  in  the  mechani- 
cal ]>art  of  the  art:  the  best  workman  with  his  tools  that 
ever  used  a  pencil."  — fiir  JoxJuut  /{<'i/itof(lx. 

"  He  strikes,  astonishes,  repels,  wounds,  but  nearly  always 
convinces,  and  no  one  better  than  he  ever  succeeded  in 


118  PICTURE    STUDY 

awakening  sympathy  when  the  occasion  demanded  it."  — 
Fromentin, 

"  He  is  the  most  popular,  because  the  most  intelligible  of 
painters.  .  .  .  One  may  begin  by  disliking  Rubens,  in  gen- 
eral (I  think  I  did),  but  one  must  end  by  standing  before 
him  in  ecstasy  and  wonder.  It  is  true  that,  always  luxuri- 
ant, he  is  often  gross  and  sensual — he  can  sometimes  be 
brutally  so.  But  for  all  this,  he  is  the  Titan  of  painting ; 
his  creations  are  of  the  earth  earthy,  but  he  has  called  down 
fire  and  light  from  heaven  wherewith  to  animate  and  illu- 
mine them."  —  Sketches  of  Art,  J/rs.  Jameson. 

"Xo  phenomenon  of  the  human  mind  is  more  extraordi- 
nary than  the  junction  of  this  cold  and  worldly  temper  with 
great  rectitude  of  principle,  and  tranquil  kindness  of  heart. 
Rubens  was  an  honorable  and  entirely  well-intentioned  man, 
earnestly  industrious,  simple  and  temperate  in  habits  of  life, 
high-bred,  learned,  and  discreet.  His  affection  for  his  mother 
was  great,  his  generosity  to  contemporary  artists  unfailing. 
He  is  a  healthy,  worthy,  kind-hearted,  courtly  phrased  ani- 
mal, without  any  clearly  perceptible  traces  of  a  soul,  except 
when  he  paints  his  children."  -—From  Modern  Painters,  by 
John  Rxsliin. 

"The  great  strength  of  Rubens  lay  in  his  exuberant  im- 
agination, his  seiise  of  animal  life,  his  extensive  knowledge 
of  antiquity  and  of  the  world,  and  his  immense  technical 
ability.  His  weakness  was  a  failure  of  dramatic  power  and 
a  want  of  perception  of  spiritual  life,"-—  Charles  W.  K<'tt. 


120  PICTURE    STUDY 

Peter  Paul  Kubens  (1577-1040),  the  "  Prince  of  Painters 
and  of  Gentlemen,"  artist,  diplomat,  and  courtier,  was  born 
of  a  distinguished  and  wealthy  family.  He  was  destined 
for  the  law  like  his  father  before  him,  but  for  this  profes- 
sion he  felt  the  greatest  repugnance.  At  the  age  of  thir- 
teen, after  a  short  career  as  a  page  to  a  noble  family,  lie 
persuaded  his  mother  to  allow  him  to  study  painting. 
Later,  after  studying  painting  and  travelling  in  Italy  and 
Spain,  he  returned  to  Antwerp,  where  he  married  his  first 
wife,  Isabella  Brandt,  to  Avhom  he  was  greatly  attached 
and  whom  he  often  painted. 

He  was  from  the  first  successful,  and  because  of  this 
very  success  he  was  forced  to  work  hard.  According  to 
his  nephew,  he  rose  at  four  in  the  morning,  attended  mass, 
unless  prevented  by  gout,  and  then  began  at  once  to  paint. 
While  he  worked  some  one  read  to  him  from  Plutarch  or 
Seneca,  or  else  he  entertained  his  visitors.  The  hour  before 
dinner  was  devoted  to  recreation.  This  meant  that  he 
allowed  his  thought  to  wander  where  it  would,  or.  it  might 
be,  lie  looked  at  objects  of  art.  He  ate  and  drank  sparingly. 
After  dinner  he  worked  until  evening  and  then  rode  horse- 
back for  an  hour  or  two.  "When  he  returned  home,  he 
received  his  friends,  eating  with  them  the  Abcndbrort. 

It  is  true  that  he  received  much  assistance  from  his 
pupils,  but  nevertheless  the  work  that  he  did  with  his  own 
hand  was  enormous.  The  story  goes  that  on  one  occasion 
he  was  to  paint  a  picture,  for  the  Cathedral  of  Mechlin. 
Rubens  made  a  sketch  and  sent  a  pupil  to  make  the  begin- 
ning. The  priest  who  ordered  the  picture  waited  at  first 
patiently  and  then  impatiently  for  the  master  to  come. 


PORTRAIT   OF    RUBENS  121 

Finally,  lie  wrote  a  furious  letter  to  Rubens,  fie  assured 
the  priest  that  he  was  only  doing  as  he  always  did.  "  After 
making  the  sketch,  1  leave  my  pupil  to  begin  the  picture 
and  to  work  it  out  according  to  my  principles,  then  I  re- 
touch it  and  set  my  seal  upon  it.  1  shall  come  to  Mechlin 
in  a  few  days;  your  discontent  will  then  cease/'  And  he 
told  the  truth.  When  the  priest  saw  his  final  touches  on 
the  picture,  he  was  perfectly  satisfied. 

Another  favorite  story  about  Rubens  is  this  :  An  English- 
man, once  a  painter  but  then  an  alchemist,  asked  Rubens  to 
help  him  fit  out  a  laboratory  for  the  transmutation  of  metals. 
He  promised  in  return  to  divide  with  him  half  the  profits. 
'•  You  have  come  twenty  years  too  late,"  said  Rubens.  Then 
pointing  to  his  palette  and  brushes,  he  added,  "  Everything 
I  touch  with  these  turns  to  gold." 

Wherever  Rubens  went,  France,  England,  Spain,  he  was 
the  favorite  with  king,  courtiers,  and  the  people,  for  he  was 
gay,  witty,  well  educated  (he  spoke  well  a  half-dozen  lan- 
guages), and  genial.  His  last  act  was  a  kindly  note  to  a 
pupil,  "On  May  day  you  have  planted  your  may,"  a  jesting 
congratulation  on  his  May-day  marriage.  All  Antwerp 
mourned  his  death. 

Method.  —  Show  the  children  such  pictures  by  Rubens  as 
his  family  scenes;  himself  and  his  wife;  his  wife  and  chil- 
dren; his  two  boys;  some  of  the  Holy  Families,  particularly 
the  beautiful  one  entitled  "The  Virgin  under  the  Apple 
Tree."  Then  show  them  his  portrait  of  himself,  and  tell 
them  something  of  his  career.  Docs  he  look  like  an  artist  '.' 
Why  ?  (Sec  pp.  xxi,  .">,  <>,  ~.) 


122  PICTURE   STUDY 

BABY  STUART—  VAN  DYOK 

Literature : 

THE  OLD  MASTERS  OK  BELGIUM  AND  HOLLAND       .     Frontentin 
VAX  DYCK  AXD  HALS        .         .         .     Head  (Great  Artist  Series) 

CEXTUHY,  vol.  27,  p.  210;  MAGAZINE  OK  AKT,  vol.  5,  p.  422. 
vol.  9,  p.  522  :  vol.  10,  pp.  65,  198;  TEMPLE  BAR,  vol.  29,  p.  342. 
THE  BOY  VAX  DYCK,  Mrs.  Preston,  in  Colonial  Ballads,  Sonnets, 
and  Other  Verse. 

"  There  is  not  a  touch  of  Van  Dyck's  pencil  but  he  seems 
to  have  revelled  in,  not  grossly,  but  delicately,  —  tasting 
the  color  in  every  touch  as  an  epicure  would  wine."  —From 
Modern  Painters,  John  Ituskin. 

Sir  Anthony  van  Dyck  (1599-1641),  like  most  artists, 
drew  and  painted  when  he  was  scarcely  more  than  a  child. 
His  talent  was  perhaps  inherited  from  his  mother,  who  was 
a  skilled  embroiderer  in  the  days  when  embroidery  was  a  fine 
art.  As  a  student  of  one  and  twenty,  his  works  were  hardly 
less  esteemed  than  those  of  his  master  Rubens,  who  was  very 
fond  of  him,  —  not  jealous  as  some  would  have  us  believe. 

When  Rnbens  was  absent,  his  students  were  in  the  habit 
of  going  to  his  studio,  bribing  the  old  servant  who  kept  the 
keys.  On  one  occasion  they  were  so  eager  to  see  the  picture 
("Descent  from  the  Cross'"/)  that  one  of  their  number  fell 
against  the  canvas,  effacing  the  face  of  the  Virgin  and  an 
arm  of  the  Magdalen,  which  were  not  dry.  Van  Dyck  was 
chosen  by  his  fellow-students  to  repair  the  damage.  He 
completed  his  work  on  the  same  day.  and  with  such  success 
that  Rubens  did  not  at  first  see  the  change,  and  when  he 
did,  decided  not  to  alter  it. 


1!A1!Y    STIAKT. 


124  Pierre RK  STUDY 

Another  strong  indication  of  his  skill  and  the  esteem  in 
which  he  was  held  by  his  fellow-painters  is  the  following  :  — 

On  one  occasion  Van  Dyck,  passing  through  Koine,  sat 
his  hour  to  that  rapidest  of  portrait  painters.  Franz  Hals,  to 
whom  he  was  personally  unknown.  When  the  portrait  was 
finished,  Van  Dyck  said,  in  a  silly  way,  that  it  seemed  to  be 
easy  work.  So  Hals  agreed  to  sit  for  the  unknown  for 
exactly  an  hour.  At  the  close  of  the  time,  Hals  the  Gay 
arose  ready  for  a  hearty  laugh,  but  when  he  saw  the  splen- 
did sketch  he  exclaimed,  "You  are  either  Van  Dyck  —  or 
the  Devil ! " 

Among  the  best  known  of  his  pictures  are  the  very  nu- 
merous portraits  representing  Charles  1.  and  his  family,  and 
also  the  artist's  portrait  of  himself. 

He  travelled  all  over  Europe,  and  wherever  he  went  was 
the  guest  of  crowned  heads,  who  esteemed  it  an  honor  to  sit 
to  him. 

Fromentin  speaks  of  him  as  a  young  prince  of  royal 
race,  with  everything  in  his  favor, — beauty,  grace,  magnifi- 
cent talents,  a  rare  education,  and  owing  them  all  to  the 
advantages  of  birth.  He  says  that  he  was  loved  by  his 
master,  and  himself  a  master  among  his  fellow-students, 
everywhere  distinguished,  everywhere  sought  for,  feted 
everywhere,  in  foreign  parts  even  more  than  at  home. 
Ife  characterizes  him  as  the  favorite  and  the  friend  of 
kings,  ever  young  even  at  a  ripe  age.  never  steady  even  in 
his  last  days ;  as  much  as  possible  a  lover  of  his  art.  but 
ready  to  sacrifice  it  to  passions  less  noble  :  a  being  exquisite 
in  attraction,  sensitive  to  all  attraction  :  a  man  who  abused 
everything. — his  health,  his  dignity,  his  talent;  a  wreck  of 


PKXF.mi'K    I500THHY  1 2C 

a  mail,  \vlio,  up  to  his  last  hour,  had  the  good  fortune,  Tin- 
most  extraordinary  of  all,  to  preserve  his  greatness  when 
painting;  a  man  who  was  forgiven  even-thing  on  account 
of  one  supreme  gift,  one  of  the  forms  of  genius,  —  grace. 

Method.  -Do  yon  like  this  baby?  Why?  What  has 
he  been  doing  ?  Who  is  he?  It  Avould  be  rather  disillu- 
sioning to  tell  the  children  the  whole  career  of  the  future 
James  II.,  but  it  is  worth  while  for  them  to  know  that  the 
baby  afterward  became  king  of  England,  and  that  Van  Dyck 
[tainted  him  and  his  family  many  times.  Sho\v  them  some 
of  the  other  famous  portraits  of  the  Stuarts.  Of  these,  the 
one  with  the  five  children,  and  with  only  three.  Charles  I. 
on  horseback,  the  three  viewrs  of  his  head  at  Windsor,  and 
any  one  of  Henrietta  Maria's,  are  very  attractive.  Show 
them,  too,  the  beautiful  portrait  of  himself,  and  give  them 
some  idea  of  his  life. 

Read  to  them,  perhaps,  .Mrs.  Preston's  poem  about  his 
mother's  early  ambitions  for  him.  (See  pp.  xxi.  5,  (5,  7.) 

rEXELOi'E  Hoor/i BY—  SIR  JOSHUA  REYNOLDS 

Literature : 

LIKK  OK  Silt  JOSHUA    HKVXOI.DS         .         .         .     .\<>rlli<-nl<- 
MKMOIKS  OK  SIR  Josur.-v   KK.YXOI.DS          .         .      l-\i/-int/tnn 
LIKK  OK  JOSIIIA   HKVNOI.DS.  by  his  Sou. 
DiscorusK.s  ON  AI:T /">•// mi  ll<  I//KI/I/X 

ANK.CnOTK    LlVK.S   OK    IloOAHTll.    Kl.YNOI.I».   KIT.        Ti  HlllS 

LIKE   AND    TIMES    OK    SIK   .losniA    HKVNOI.DS     t  '/i.   Hub.    /,'>//< 

in/'/  Tom  '1'iii/lnr 

Sn;  JOSIICA  UKVNOI.DS  .  .  I'ltllimj  ((Jn-iit  Artist  Scries) 
ENGLISH  CHILDKKN  AS  I-AINTK.D  HV  Sn:  .FosurA 

KKYNOLDS S7<y/// <-/(.-• 


126  PICTURE    STUDY 

Miss  ANGKL  .....          .\inn-  Thackeray  Ritchie 

HISTORY    OK    MoDKK.V    PAINTING  ....          Mnther 

STUDIES  ix  ENGLISH   ART  ......        Wed  more 

BIOGRAPHIES  OK  TIIK   FIXE  A  iris       .  .         .       Spooner 

SELF  HELP •  Smile* 

CKXITKY  OF  PAINTERS  OK  TIIK.  ENGLISH  SCHOOL  .  Rcdyrace 
PORTFOLIO,  vol.  4,  pp.  00,  82;  vol.  8.  pp.  5:5,  14!);  vol.  24,  p.  1  ; 
ART  JOUHXAI.,  vol.  17,]).  181  ;  vol.  11,  p.  197;  vol.  0,  pp.  129,  177; 
vol.  21,  }>.  llil  ;  vol.  22,  p.  88;  vol.  :55,  p.  225;  vol.  41,  pp.  161,  2:58; 
vol.  44,  p.  1<S;  vol.  4!),  pp.  82,  :>0:'> ;  MAG  A/INK  OK  ART,  vol.  15, 
p.  1:58;  vol.  22,  p.  88;  LIVING  AGE,  vol.  52,  p.  080;  vol.  88,  p.  401  : 
vol.  89,  p.  8:55;  NINETEENTH  C'K.XTI-RY,  vol.  37,  p.  462;  SCRIHNKR, 
vol.  15,  ]>.  9:5;  CKXTTRY,  vol.  54,  p.  815;  MTNSEY,  vol.  16,  p.  448; 
LEISURE  Horn,  vol.  1,  p.  095;  vol.  :5:?.  ]>p.  20:5,  288;  BLACKWOOD, 
vol.  102,  j).  58:5. 

"In  Reynolds's  portraits  Ave  find  tlia,t  spirituality  and 

naturalness  which  render  them  of  the  greatest  interest  to 
those  who  do  not  even  care  to  inquire  the  name  of  the  actual 
sitter.  AVho  asks  who  Miss  Penelope  Boothby  was? 
Sufficient  is  it  that  in  her  childish  coquetry  and  arch  sim- 
plicity she  is  the  type  of  fresh  young  life  in  the  eighteenth 
century,  — charming,  quaint,  little  Penelope  Boothby.'' 

-  Pulling. 

••  Here  Reynolds  is  laid,  and,  to  tell  you  my  mind, 
He  has  not  left  a  wiser,  or  better,  behind. 
Ills  pencil  was  striking,  resistless,  and  grand. 
His  manners  were  gentle,  complying,  and  bland  ; 
Still  born  to  improve  us  in  every  part. 
His  pencils  our  faces,  his  manners  our  heart. 
To  coxcombs  averse,  yet  nmst  civilly  steering. 
When  they  judged  without  skill,  he  was  still  hard  of  hearing. 
When  they  talked  of  their  Raphaels.  Corivguios,  and  stuff. 
He  shifted  his  trumpet,  and  only  took  snuff." 


I'KNKl.Ol'i:    BOOTH  i 


128  PICTURE    STUDY 

"Reynolds,  of  all  urtists,  painted  children  best  —  knew 
most  of  childhood,  depicted  its  appearance  in  the  truest 
and  happiest  spirit  of  comedy,  entered  into  its  changeful 
soul  with  the  tenderest,  heartiest  sympathy,  played  with 
the  playful,  sighed  with  the  sorrowful,  and  mastered  all 
the  craft  of  infancy.''  -—  Stephen*. 

••  How  various  he  is  !  "  —  Gainsborotigh. 

''  He  is  the  greatest  painter  that  ever  lived.  I  see  in  his 
pictures  an  exquisite  charm  which  I  see  in  nature,  but  in 
no  other  pictures."  —  Homiiey. 

"  I  am  inclined  to  think  that,  considering  all  the  disad- 
vantages of  circumstances  and  education  under  which  his 
genius  was  developed,  there  was  perhaps  hardly  ever  born 
a  man  with  a  more  intense  and  innate  gift  of  insight  into 
nature  than  our  own  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds.  Considered  as 
a  painter  of  individuality  in  the  human  form  and  mind,  1 
think  him,  even  as  it  is,  the  prince  of  portrait  painters. 
Titian  painted  nobler  pictures,  and  Van  Dyck  had  nobler 
subjects,  but  neither  of  them  entered  so  subtilely  as  Sir 
Joshua  did  into  the  minor  varieties  of  human  heart  and 
temper;  and  when  you  consider  that,  with  a  frightful  con- 
ventionality of  social  habitude  all  around  him,  he  yet 
conceived  the  simplest  type  of  all  feminine  and  childish 
loveliness;  that  in  a  northern  climate,  and  with  gray  and 
white  and  black  around  him.  lie  yet  became  a  colorist  who 
can  be  crushed  by  none,  even  the  Venetians:  and  that  with 
Dutch  painting  and  Dresden  china  for  the  prevailing  types 
of  art  in  the  saloons  of  his  day,  lie  threw  himself  at  once 


PENELOPE    BOOTHBY  129 

at  the  feet  of  the  great  masters  of  Italy,  arid  arose  from 
their  feet  to  share  their  throne  —  i  know  not  that  in  the 
whole  history  of  art  you  can  produce  another  instance  of  so 
strong,  so  unaided,  so  unerring  an  instinct  for  all  that  was 
true,  pure,  and  noble. 

"Xow,  do  you  recollect  the  evidence  respecting  the  char- 
acter of  this  man,  — the  two  points  of  bright,  peculiar  evi- 
dence given  by  the  sayings  of  the  two  greatest  literary  men 
of  his  day,  Johnson  and  Goldsmith?  Johnson,  who,  as 
you  know,  was  always  Reynolds's  attached  friend,  had  but 
one  complaint  to  make  against  him,  — that  he  hated  nobody. 
—  'Reynolds,'  he  said,  'you  hate  no  one  living;  I  like  a 
good  hater!  '  Htill  more  significant  is  the  little  touch  in 
Goldsmith's  'Retaliation.'  You  recollect  how  in  that, 
poem  he  describes  various  persons  who  meet  at  one  of  the 
dinners  at  St.  James's  coffeehouse,  each  person  being 
described  under  the  name  of  some  appropriate  dish.  You 
will  often  hear  the  concluding  lines  about  Reynolds 

quoted :  — 

'• ;  He  shifted  his  trumpet.'  etc.  ; 

less  often,  or  at  least  less  attentively,  the  preceding  ones, 
far  more  important :  — 

14  •  Still  born  to  improve  us  in  every  part, 

His  pencil  our  faces,  his  manners  our  heart  ; ' 

and  never,  the  most  characteristic  touch  of  all,  near  the 
beginning:  — 

••  4Our  dean  shall  be  venison,  just  fresh  from  the  plains: 
Our  Burke  shall  be  tongue,  with  a  garnish  of  brains  : 
To  make  out  the  dinner,  full  certain  I  am. 
That  Hich  is  anchovy,  and  Reynolds  is  lamb.' 

Tim   l>«tli*.  .In],!,    It'ixkill. 

1C 


130  PICTURE    STUDY 

"Reynolds,  swiftest  of  painters  was  the  gentlest  of  com- 
panions. .  .  .  Reynolds  is  usually  admired  for  his  dash 
and  speed.  His  true  merit  is  an  ineffable  subtlety  com- 
bined with  his  speed.  The  tenderness  of  some  of  Rey- 
nolds's  touches  is  quite  be}rond  the  telling."  —From 
Modern  Painters,  by  John 


Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  (1723-1792)  was  the  son  of  a  learned 
clergyman  who  kept  a  Latin  school.  He  was  intended  for 
medicine,  but  determined  early  to  study  painting. 

His  liking  for  drawing  was  shown  at  an  early  age.  When 
he  was  eight  years  of  age  not  only  had  he  copied  the 
engravings  from  Dryden's  "Plutarch"  and  Cato's  "Book  of 
Emblems,"  but  he  had  read  through  a  large  quarto  volume 
on  "  Perspective,"  and,  what  is  more,  thoroughly  digested  it. 

His  first  portrait  was  a  sketch  of  his  tutor,  painted  on 
canvas  from  an  old  sail. 

This  was  so  unmistakably  clever  that  his  father  let  him 
study  with  Hudson,  a  mediocre  portrait  painter  in  London. 
But  Reynolds  stayed  with  him  but  two  years.  He  returned 
home  and  was  at  once  successful  as  a  portrait  painter. 
However,  this  field  was  soon  exhausted,  and  young  Rey- 
nolds returned  to  London. 

Shortly  after  this  his  father  died,  and,  in  consequence, 
Reynolds  had  not  only  himself  to  provide  for,  but  his  two 
sisters.  Nevertheless,  he  was  earning  a  good  income  from 
his  work  and  the  opportunity  presented  itself  to  him  to  go 
to  Italy,  without  expense,  with  Admiral  Keppel.  This 
journey  had  been  the  dream  of  his  life.  While  there  he 
worked  indefatigably.  In  the  cold  Vatican  he  took  a  chill 


PENELOPE    BOOTIIBV  131 

which  was  the  beginning  of  an  illness  which  left  him  some- 
what deaf. 

He  was  so  clever  a  copyist  that  even  the  best  judges 
could  not  tell  his  work  from  the  original. 

When  he  returned  to  England  he  was  called  the  new  Van 
Dyck.  He  was  greatly  in  demand  as  a  portrait  painter, 
and  painted  no  less  than  a  hundred  and  fifty  portraits 
annually.  This  of  course  gave  him  for  those  days  a  large 
income  (eighty  thousand  dollars).  The  magnificent  palace 
in  which  he  lived  was  the  favorite  rendezvous  of  the  famous 
and  of  the  wealthy.  There  might  be  seen  the  actor  Gar- 
rick,  the  orator  Burke,  the  great  writers  of  the  day,  Samuel 
Johnson,  Richardson,  Smollett,  Goldsmith,  Gibbon,  Sterne. 

The  story  of  his  affection  for  Angelica  Kauft'man  is 
charmingly  told  in  Miss  Thackeray's  "Miss  Angel.'' 
Although  he  remained  a  bachelor  for  love  of  her,  lie  was 
never  a  recluse,  and  his  house  continued  to  the  end  to  be  a 
gathering-place  for  the  nobility  and  those  whom  wit  and 
wisdom  ennobled.  As  Malone  says,  ''For  thirty  years 
there  was  scarce  a  person  in  the  three  kingdoms  distin- 
guished in  literature,  art,  law,  politics,  and  war,  who  did 
not  occasionally  appear  at  his  table." 

These  dinners  were  famous.  I  Te  invited  twice1  as  many 
as  the  table  could  seat.  1'roniptly  at  five1  the  dinner 
was  served,  whether  the  guests  had  arrived  or  not.  As 
the  newcomers  arrived,  the  old  were  crowded  closer  and 
closer  together.  Kvery  man  helped  himself,  but  the  com- 
pany and  the  conversation  made  up  for  the  other  discom- 
forts, and  an  invitation  was  considered  always  a  great 
honor. 


132  nriTKK  S'JTDY 

Sir  Joshua  led  a  most  regular  life.  He  rose  early, 
breakfasted  at  nine,  spent  from  ten  to  eleven  painting 
pictures,  and  from  eleven  to  four  giving  hour  sittings  for 
portraits.  Then  he  made  an  elaborate  toilette,  and  from 
that  time  on  belonged  to  his  friends. 

He  was  the  honored  first  President  of  the  lioyal  Academy. 
His  yearly  addresses,  the  "  Discourses,"  were  so  excellent 
that  it  was  by  many  supposed  that  they  were  written  by 
his  intimate  friend,  Samuel  Johnson. 

Hut  "Sir  .Joshua  Reynolds,  sir,  would  as  soon  get  me  to 
paint  for  him  as  to  write  for  him,"  was  .Johnson's  indig- 
nant disclaimer. 

The  last  words  of  his  last  "  Discourse  "  were  as  follows :  — 

"  Were  I  to  begin  the  world  again,  1  would  tread  in  the 
steps  of  that  great  master:  to  kiss  the  hem  of  his  garment, 
to  catch  the  slightest  of  his  perfections,  would  be  glory  and 
distinction  enough  for  an  ambitious  man.  I  feel  a  self- 
congratulation  in  knowing  myself  capable  of  such  sensa- 
tions as  he  intended  to  excite.  I  reflect  without  vanity, 
that  these  'Discourses'  bear  testimony  to  my  admiration 
of  that  truly  divine  man;  and  I  should  desire  that  the  last 
word  that  I  should  pronounce  in  this  Acndemy,  and  from 
this  place,  might  be  the  name  of  Michelangelo." 

Shortly  after  this  he  became  totally  blind.  The  news  of 
his  death  was  received  with  grief.  Every  one  was  deter- 
mined that  the  great  man  whom  all  had  loved  and  honored 
in  his  life  should  not  lack  honor  in  his  death. 

"Never,"  says  Burke,  "was  a  Funeral  of  ceremony  at- 
tended with  so  much  sincere  concern  of  all  sorts  of  people. 
The  dav  was  favorable;  the  order  was  not  broken  or  inter- 


PENELOPE    BOOTH  liY  ]:5H 

rupted  in  the  smallest  degree.  Everything,  1  think,  was 
just  as  our  deceased  friend  would,  it'  living,  have  wished  it 
to  be,  for  he  was,  as  you  know,  not  altogether  indifferent 
to  these  kinds  of  observances." 

Method.  —  Do  you  like  the  child?     \Vliy? 

Tell  them  the  story  of  Sir  , Joshua  Keynolds's  life. 

Many  others  of  his  pictures  are  familiar  and  easily 
obtained  — "  The  Angels'  Heads "  (a  study  of  different 
expressions  and  positions  of  the  head  of  little  Miss  (Jor- 
don),  "Innocence,"  "Simplicity,"  "Strawberry  (Jirl." 
"The  Countess  of  Devonshire  and  Her  Daughter,''  not  to 
mention  "The  Infant  Samuel,"  are  all  beautiful  and  easily 
understood  by  children.  (See  pp.  xxi,  ;">.  (i,  7.) 


134  PICTURE    STUDY 


FEEDING  HER   BIRDS  —  MILLET 

For  literature,  see  p.  29 ;  for  biography,  see  p.  34  ;  and  for  other 
painting,  see  pp.  :51,  18!),  201,  and  Part  II. 

"In  'The  Woman  feeding  Her  Children,'  I  wanted  to 
suggest  a  nest  of  birds  with  their  mother  giving  them  food. 
The  man  [in  the  distance]  works  to  feed  them  all."  —  J.  F. 
Millet.  [From  a  letter.]  —  Life  of  Millet,  Sensier. 

Method. — This  picture  is  said  to  have  been  Millet's 
favorite.  Back  of  the  house  may  be  seen  the  father  hard 
at  work.  In  the  foreground  the  mother  is  absorbed  in  her 
occupation  of  feeding  the  children  with  a  wooden  spoon 
from  a  bowl  in  her  lap.  One  of  them  has  her  mouth  open 
ready  to  receive  the  food,  while  the  younger  of  the  other 
two  children  watches  the  process.  Evidently  it  is  her  turn 
next.  They  are  peasant  children,  with  their  little  wooden 
shoes  —  they  are  Ms  children.  But  he  had  nine  to  feed — 
not  three. 

Why  is  this  picture  called  "Feeding  Her  Birds?"  Do 
you  like  it?  Why?  What  other  pictures  of  Millet  do  you 
like?  Tell  me  about  him.  (See  pp.  xxi,  a,  6,  7.) 


FEEDING    1IEK    BIHDS. 


MARCH 

(Tiiu  MODKIJN  MASTERS 


MARCH 
(THE  MODERN  MASTERS) 

THE  SHEPHERD'S  CHIEF  MOURNER— LANDSEER 

Literature : 

HISTORY  OF  MODERN  PAINTING    ....."    Mutter 
PICTURES  BY  SIR  EDWIN  LANDSKKR     ....     Dnfforne 
SIR  EDWIN  LANDSEEK         .         .       Stephen.*  (Great  Artist  Series) 

PORTFOLIO,  1871,  p.  165;  1885.  p.  32;  ART  JOURNAL,  vol.  2, 
p.  99;  vol.  27,  pp.  1,  353;  vol.  28,  pp.  1,  353;  vol.  31,  pp.  302,  325. 
361;  LIVING  AGE,  vol.  32,  p.  427;  vol.  123,  pp.  812;  MTNSKY, 
vol.  11,  p.  160. 

"  Take,  for  instance,  one  of  the  most  perfect  poems  or 
pictures  (I  use  the  words  as  synonymous)  which  modern 
times  have  seen:  the  'Old  Shepherd's  Chief  Mourner.' 
Here  the  exquisite  execution  of  the  glossy  and  crisp  hair 
of  the  dog,  the  bright,  sharp  touching  of  the  green  bough 
beside  it,  the  clear  painting  of  the  wood  of  the  coffin  and 
the  folds  of  the  blanket  are  language  —  language  clear  and 
expressive  in  the  highest  degree.  But  the  close  pressure 
of  the  dog's  breast  against  the  wood,  the  convulsive  clinging 
of  the  paws,  which  has  dragged  the  blanket  off  the  trestle. 
the  total  powerlessness  of  the  head  laid,  close  and  motion- 
less, upon  its  folds,  the  fixed  and  tearful  fall  of  the  eye  in 
its  utter  hopelessness,  the  rigidity  of  repose  \vhidi  marks 

139 


140  PIO'ITRK    STU)Y 

that  there  has  been  no  motion  nor  change  in  the  trance 
of  agony  since  the  last  blow  was  struck  on  the  coffin-lid, 
the  quietness  and  gloom  of  the  chamber,  the  spectacles 
marking  the  place  where  the  Bible  was  last  closed,  indicat- 
ing how  lonely  has  been  the  life  —  how  unwatched  the 
departure  of  him  who  is  now  laid  solitary  in  his  sleep,— 
these  are  all  thoughts  —  thoughts  by  which  the  picture  is 
separated  at  once  from  hundreds  of  equal  merit,  as  far  as 
mere  painting  goes,  by  which  it  ranks  as  a  work  of  high 
art,  and  stamps  its  author,  not  as  the  neat  imitator  of  the 
texture  o£  a  skin,  or  the  fold  of  a  drapery  but  as  the  Man 
of  Mind." — John  Ittixkin,  in  Modern  Painters. 

"Sir  Edwin  Landseer  (1802-lS7;>).  The  most  popular 
animal  painter  not  merely  of  England,  but  of  the  whole 
century,  was  Edwin  Landseer.  For  fifty  years  his  works 
formed  the  chief  features  of  attraction  in  the  Koyal 
Academy.  Engravings  from  him  had  such  a  circulation 
in  the  country,  that  in  the  sixties  there  was  scarcely  a 
house  in  which  there  did  not  hang  one  of  his  horses  or 
dogs  or  stags.  And  Landseer  suffered  greatly  from  this 
popularity.  He  is  much  better  than  the  reproductions 
witli  their  fatal  gloss  allow  any  one  to  suppose.  .  .  . 

''Edwin  Landseer  came  from  a  family  of  artists.  His 
father,  who  was  an  engraver,  sent  him  out  into  the  free 
world  of  nature  as  a  boy,  and  made  him  sketch  donkeys 
and  goats  and  sheep.  [His  mother  sat  to  Sir  Joshua  Key- 
nolds  for  'The  Cottagers.'] 

"  When  Edwin  Landseer  was  fourteen  he  went  to  Haydon, 
the  prophet  on  matters  of  art;  and  on  the  advice  of  this 


142  PICTURE    STUDY 

singular  being,  he  studied  the  sculptures  of  the  Parthenon. 
He  'anatomized  animals  under  my  eyes, '  writes  Haydon, 
'copied  my  anatomical  drawings,  and  applied  my  princi- 
ples of  instruction  to  animal  painting.  His  genius,  directed 
in  this  fashion,  has,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  arrived  at  satis- 
factory results. '  Landseer  was  the  spoiled  child  of  fortune. 
There  is  no  other  English  painter  who  can  boast  of  having 
been  a  member  of  the  Royal  Academy  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
four.  In  high  favor  at  court,  honored  by  the  fashionable 
world,  and  tenderly  treated  by  criticism,  he  went  on  his 
way  triumphant.  The  region  over  which  he-held  sway  was 
narrow,  but  he  stood  out  in  it  as  in  life,  powerful  and  com- 
manding. The  exhibition  of  his  pictures,  which  took  place 
after  his  death  in  1873,  contained  314  oil  paintings  and 
146  sketches.  The  property  which  he  left  amounted  to 
$800,000;  and  a  further  sum  of  $275,000  was  realized  by 
the  sale  of  his  unsold  pictures.  .  .  . 

"  One  reason  of  Landseer's  artistic  success  is  perhaps  due 
to  that  in  him  which  was  inartistic  —  to  his  efforts  to  make 
animals  more  beautiful  than  they  really  are,  and  to  make 
them  the  medium  for  expressing  human  sentiment.  And 
that  is  what  distinguishes  him,  to  his  disadvantage,  from 
really  great  animal  painters  like  Potter,  Snyders,  Troyon, 
Jadin,  and  Rosa  Bonheur.  He  paints  the  human  tempera- 
ment beneath  the  animal  mask.  His  stags  have  expressive 
countenances,  and  his  dogs  appear  to  be  gifted  with  reason, 
and  even  with  speech.  At  one  moment  there  is  philosophic 
dignity  in  their  behavior,  and  at  another,  frivolity  in 
their  pleasures.  .  .  .  And  this  disposition  to  bring  ani- 
mals on  the  staire,  as  if  thev  were  the  actors  of  tratrical. 


THE    SHEPHERD'S   CHIEF   MOURNER  143 

melodramatic,    or    farcical    scenes,    made    him   a   peculiar 
favorite  with  the  great  mass  of  people.   .   .   . 

"  Landseer's  portrait  reveals  to  us  a  robust  and  serious 
man,  with  a  weather-beaten  face,  a  short,  white  beard,  and 
a  snub,  bull-dog  nose.  Standing  six  feet  high  and  having 
the  great  heavy  figure  of  a  Teuton  stepping  out  of  his 
aboriginal  forest,  he  was,  indeed,  much  more  like  a  country 
gentleman  than  a  London  artist.  He  was  a  sportsman  who 
wandered  about  all  day  long  in  the  air  with  a  gun  on  his 
arm,  and  he  painted  his  animal  pictures  with  all  the  love 
and  the  joy  of  a  child  of  nature.  And  that  accounts  for 
their  strength,  their  convincing  power,  and  their  vivid 
force.  It  is  as  if  he  had  become  possessed  of  a  magic  cap, 
with  which  he  could  draw  close  to  animals  without  being 
observed,  and  surprise  their  nature  and  their  inmost  life." 

—  Richard  Mulher. 

'"Compare  a  dog  of  Edwin  Landseer  with  a  dog  of  Ve- 
ronese. In  the  first,  the  outward  texture  is  wrought  out 
witli  exquisite  dexterity  of  handling,  and  minute  attention 
to  all  the  accidents  of  curl  and  gloss  which  can  give  ap- 
pearance of  reality;  Avhile  the  hue  and  power  of  the  sun- 
shine, and  the  truth  of  the  shadow  on  all  these  forms  is 
neglected,  and  the  large  relations  of  the  animal,  as  a  mass 
of  color  to  the  sky  or  ground,  or  other  parts  of  the  picture, 
utterly  lost.  This  is  realism  at  the  expense  of  ideality; 
it  is  treatment  essentially  unimaginative.  With  Veronese, 
there  is  no  curling  or  crisping,  no  glossiness  or  sparkle, 
hardly  even  a  hair,  a  mere  type  of  hide,  laid  on  with  a  i'ew 
scene  painter's  touches.  But  the  essence  of  the  dog  is  here, 


144  PICTURE    STUDY 

the  entire  magnificent,  generic,  animal  type,  muscular  and 
living,  and  with  broad,  pure,  sunny  daylight  upon  him, 
and  bearing  his  true  and  harmonious  relation  of  color  to  all 
color  about  him.  This  is  ideal  treatment.  .  .  . 

"In  our  modern  treatment  of  the  dog,  of  which  the  pre- 
vailing tendency  is  marked  by  Landseer,  the  interest  taken 
in  him  is  disproportionate  to  that  taken  in  man,  and  leads 
to  a  somewhat  trivial  mingling  of  sentiment,  or  Avarping  by 
caricature;  giving  up  the  true  nature  of  the  animal  for  the 
sake  of  a  pretty  thought  or  pleasant  jest.  Neither  Titian 
nor  Velasquez  ever  jest;  and  though  Veronese  jests  grace- 
fully and  tenderly,  he  never  for  an  instant  oversteps  the 
absolute  facts  of  nature.  But  the  English  painter  looks  for 
sentiment  or  jest  primarily,  and  reaches  both  by  a  feebly 
romantic  taint  of  fallacy,  except  in  one  or  two  simple 
and  touching  pictures,  such  as  'The  Shepherd's  Chief 
Mourner.'  '  —From  Modern  Painters,  by  John  Ruskin. 

The  vivid  description  quoted  from  '''Modern  Painters"  will 
help  the  teacher  to  understand  the  picture.  Let  the  teacher 
study  it  until  she,  too,  realizes  something  of  what  it  means. 

Tell  the  children  the  story  of  Landseer's  life. 

"Suspense,"  showing  a  dog  watching  at  the  closed  door 
of  his  wounded  master,  and  "The  Shepherd's  Chief 
Mourner"  are  considered  his  best  works.  "Cat's  Paw." 
"High  Life  and  Low  Life,"  "Spaniels,"  "Alexander  and 
Diogenes,"  "A  Distinguished  Member  of  the  Human  So- 
ciety," "Dignity  and  Impudence."  and  the  "  Monarch  of 
the  Glen,"  are  well-known  and  popular  pictures,  perfectly 
comprehensible  to  children.  (See  pp.  xxi,  ,">,  <>,  7.) 


QUEKN    LoriSK  14.1 


Q  UEEX  L  OU1SE  —  KICHTER 

Literature : 

HISTORY  OK   MODKUN   PAIXTIXO         .         .         .     IticJmrd  Mutf/a- 
FAMOUS  TYPKS  OK  WOMANHOOD        .         .         .     Mrx.  ho/ton 
SOMK   K.MIXKXT   \VOMKX  OK  ouit   TiMP:s    .         .     Mrx.  ]'\tircett 

('HArTArqrAN,   Vol.   IK  p.  45'.}. 

Gustav  Richter  (1828-1884)  was  a  German  painter  much 
admired  and  loved  during  his  lifetime,  but  whose  present 
popularity  rests  mainly  on  this  picture. 

Probably  no  woman  is  so  beloved  in  "Prussia  as  the  dead 
Queen  Louise.  She  was  not  only  beautiful  and  graceful. 
—  Richter's  picture  tells  us  that,  — but  noble  in  character. 
She  was  the  wife  of  the  unfortunate  Frederick  William, 
in  whose  reign  Xapoleon  crushed  Germany  to  the  ground. 
She  accompanied  her  husband  in  his  fatal  campaigns  and 
made  a  personal  appeal  to  Napoleon.  Not  only  was  she 
unsuccessful  in  her  effort  to  obtain  from  him  jusiice  and 
mercy,  but  he  treated  her  with  incredible  brutality,  even 
attacking  her  character.  P>ut  the  only  effect  of  his  charges 
was  to  make  her  mure  deeply  loved  l>y  the  people  of  Prns- 


146  PICTURE    STUDY 

sia,  and  so  to  enrage  her  son,  then  a  boy,  afterward  the 
Emperor  William  I.,  that  he  swore  to  be  revenged. 

He  was,  —  Sedan  wiped  out  Tilsit. 

She  lies  buried  in  the  garden  of  Charlottenburg,  near 
Berlin,  beside  her  poor  husband.  There  a  beautiful  reclin- 
ing statue  by  one  of  Germany's  best  sculptors  perpetuates 
the  memory  of  her  beauty. 

Xo  Prussian  girl  is  so  ignorant  that  she  cannot  tell  you 
of  Louise  the  Beautiful  and  Louise  the  Good.  Every  child 
in  Germany  would  recognize  at  once  this  picture  of  her,  the 
original  of  which  is  one  of  the  great  treasures  of  Cologne. 

Method  (see  pp.  xxi,  5,  6,  7). — Tell  the  children  some- 
thing of  the  beautiful  queen,  and  of  the  love  of  the  Germans 
even  now  for  her  memory  and  this  portrait. 

Do  you  think  that  she  is  beautiful?     Why? 


QL'EEN    LOUISE. 


148  PICTURE   STUDY 


JEAXXE  D'ARC—  BASTIEN-LEPAGE 

Literature : 

HISTORY  OK  MODERN*  PAINTING       .         .         .     'Muther 
HISTORY  OK   KRKXCH  PAINTING        .         .         .     Stranahan 
MODERN  FRKNCH  MASTERS      .         .        Edited  by  ./.  (.'.  can  Dyke 
JULES   liASTiKX-LKi'AGE  AND  HIS   ART    .         .     Theuriet,  Clausen, 

Rirkert,  .\f«thil(le  mind 
LIGHTS  OK  Two  CENTURIES     ....     Hale 

ART  JOURNAL,  vol.  49,  p.  •">:};  MAGAZINE  OK  ART,  vol.  G,  p.  2(>5: 
vol.  i:{.  p.  s:} ;  vol.  1."),  p. 'JOT :  PORTKOLIO.  1894,  Xo.  4:  NATION, 
vol.  ."H.  ]».  :U:} ;  ST.  NICHOLAS,  vol.  15,  p.  :-}. 

Jninnf  il'Arc.  —  The  bibliography  of  the  Maid  of  Orleans  lias 
made  a  volume  in  itself.  The  following  books  and  articles  were 
many  of  them  written  for  children,  and  might  with  profit  be  read 
to  them,  at  least  in  part :  — 

JEANNE  i>'Anc      .......  ^fir?telet 

JEANNE   D'ARC      ...  .          .         .  (Hiphnnt 

SHIELD  01    THE   FLEI  R   DE  Lis  .         .  Da  B</!x 

JOAX  <n-'   ARC.      Cornltitl  Magazine,  vol.  16,  \\.  584. 

JOAX  OK   AIM         .          .          .          .         .         .         .  South?// 

MEMOIRS  01    C'ELEHRATED  WOMEN     .         .         .  fr.  P.  11.  James 

MEMOIRS  OK  CELEBRATED  CHARACTERS    .         .  Lamartine 

SEVEN   HEROINES  OK  CHRISIKNDOM    .         .         .  Mi**  Yung'/. 

FIKTEEN   DECISIVE   HAITLES  OK  THE   WORLD    .  Creaay 


150  PICTURE    STUDY 

"Jeanne  d'Arc,  more  properly  Dare  (1412-1431),  the 
Maid  of  Orleans,  was  the  daughter  of  a  French  peasant  of 
Domremy.  In  her  girlhood  the  English  were  masters  of 
northern  France.  Moreover,  the  queen-mother,  Isabella, 
supported  the  claims  of  the  English  king,  her  grandson, 
against  those  of  her  son  Charles,  who,  thinking  only  of  his 
personal  ease,  passively  allowed  the  growing  encroach- 
ments of  the  English.  This  agrees  with  the  first  part  of 
the  prophecy  that  France  should  suffer  great  calamities 
through  a  depraved  woman.  That  the  country  should  be 
saved,  however,  through  a  chaste  maiden  of  Domremy  was 
the  second  part  of  this  same  prophecy,  fulfilled  in  the  life- 
time and  by  the  life  of  the  young  peasant  girl. 

"Her  long  and  ardent  prayers  for  the  deliverance  of  her 
country  from  the  English  were  answered,  apparently,  by 
the  vision  of  the  Virgin,  St.  George,  and  St.  Catherine, 
whom  she  not  only  saw,  but  heard. 

"  With  great  difficulty  she  finally  succeeded  in  obtaining 
an  audience  with  the  Dauphin,  whose  confidence  in  her 
supernatural  strength  she  gained  by  picking  him  out  from 
his  numerous  courtiers,  although  there  was  nothing  at  all 
distinctive  in  his  dress. 

"  She  was  put  in  the  command  of  the  army.  By  reason 
of  her  marvellous  victories  at  Orleans  and  Patay,  she  per- 
suaded Charles  to  advance  toward  Eheims,  where  he  was 
crowned,  she  herself  taking  part  in  the  ceremony. 

"This  was  her  last  triumph. 

"She  was  sold  by  the  Duke  of  Burgundy  to  the  English, 
and  burned  at  the  stake  as  a  heretic. 

"  Joan  never  learned  to  read  or  write,  and  received  her 


JEANNE    I)' ARC  151 

sole  religious  instruction  from  her  mother,  who  taught  her 
to  recite  the  Pater  Xoster,  Ave  Maria,  and  the  Credo.  In 
her  childhood  she  was  noted  for  her  abounding  physical 
energy;  but  her  vivacity,  so  far  from  being  tainted  by  any 
coarse  or  unfeminine  trait,  was  the  direct  outcome  of  intense 
mental  activity  and  an  abnormally  sensitive  nervous  tem- 
perament. Toward  her  parents  her  conduct  was  uniformly 
exemplary,  and  the  charm  of  her  unselfish  kindness  made 
her  the  special  favorite  of  many  in  the  village.  In  all  her 
household  work  she  was  specially  proficient,  her  skill  in 
the  use  of  the  needle  not  being  excelled  by  that  of  any 
matron  even  of  Rouen.  As  she  grew  to  womanhood,  she 
became  inclined  to  silence  and  spent  much  of  her  time  in 
solitude  and  prayer.  .  .  .  Joan  was  of  medium  height, 
stoutly  built,  but  finely  proportioned;  and  her  frame  was 
capable  of  enduring  great  fatigue.  Notwithstanding  sub- 
sequent tradition,  she  does  not  appear  to  have  been  strik- 
ingly handsome.  .  .  .  Her  features  were,  moreover, 
expressive  rather  of  rustic  honesty  and  innocence  than  of 
mental  power,  though  she  is  said  to  have  possessed  grand, 
melancholy  eyes,  which,  probably  on  account  of  the  high 
and  noble  purpose  which  animated  them,  exercised  an 
indescribable  charm.  Her  voice  was  powerful,  but  at  the 
same  time  of  great  sweetness;  and  her  manner  possessed  a 
fine,  natural  dignity  and  grace,  which,  while  it  repelled 
familiarity,  softened  and  subdued  even  the  rudest  of  the 
soldiers.  Nominally,  she  had  been  intrusted  with  the 
command  of  the  army,  but  in  reality  it  was  under  the  direc- 
tion of  experienced  generals;  and  it  cannot  be  pretended 
that  the  victories  accomplished  in  consequence  of  her 


152  PICTl'HK    STU)Y 

cooperation  were  the  result  of  brilliant  military  genius. 
Indeed,  the  blind  obstinacy  with  which,  in  the  face  of 
overwhelming  odds,  she  refused  to  acknowledge  defeat, 
place  it  beyond  doubt  that  she  was  unable  to  estimate  the 
elements  of  success  in  battle,  and  was  actuated  throughout 
by  a  fatalistic  persuasion  that  victory  was  inevitable  if  she 
persevered  unflinchingly  in  her  efforts  to  attain  it."  — 
Encyclopedia  Britaimfca. 

"Nothing  is  good  but  truth."  -—Jiile*  Bastien- Lepage. 

"  As  an  example  of  the  devotion  in  which  Lepage  was 
held  by  his  fellow-artists  and  students,  one  may  cite  the 
following  passage  from  a  letter  to  Dagiian-Bouveret,  written 
shortly  after  the  death  of  Bastien -Lepage. 

"'We  will  talk  about  him  as  much  as  you  like,  for  with 
every  new  picture  that  I  paint  in  future,  I  shall  try  to 
think  whether  he  would  have  been  satisfied  with  it.' 

"  Before  beginning  this  picture,  he  paid  a  visit  to  Dom- 
remy,  accompanied  by  his  faithful  mother,  and  saw  the 
birthplace  of  the  heroic  maid,  and  the  cottage  where  she 
had  lived.  .  .  . 

"'  Jeanne  D'Arcy  he  began  by  saying  to  himself,  •  was  a 
simple  and  devout  maiden,  of  a  thoughtful  and  contempla- 
tive nature.  Often  she  was  to  be  seen  on  her  knees  in  the 
village  church,  praying  to  the  virgin  saints,  Catherine  and 
Margaret,  and  the  great  archangel  Michael,  whose  carved 
images  adorned  the  altar  of  Domremy.  Often  as  she  knelt 
there,  she  thought  of  the  distracted  state  of  her  poor  country 
and  of  the  misery  which  she  saw  around  her.  And  as  she 
prayed  to  God  and  the  saints  for  help,  it  seemed  to  her 


JEANNE    IV ARC  153 

that  a  voice  from  heaven  called  her  to  go  forth  and  save 
her  unhappy  land.'  Accordingly,  the,  artist's  first  idea  was 
to  represent  Jeanne  on  her  knees  before  the  altar  of  the 
village  church,  and  he  made  a  beautiful  drawing  of  the 
kneeling  maid  with  her  hands  clasped  in  prayer  and  her 
head  raised  in  a  listening  attitude.  I  Jut  then  his  love  for 
open-air  subjects  got  the  better  of  his  first  resolve.  He 
remembered  how  Jeanne  ])'Arc  had  said  that  the  mysteri- 
ous voices  followed  her  everywhere,  and  haunted  her  both 
at  work  and  in  her  sleep.  So  he  drew  a  colored  sketch  on 
the  Avails  of  his  studio,  in  which  he  represented  his  heroine. 
in  the  gray  homespun  bodice  and  brown  skirt  of  the  Lor- 
raine peasants,  spinning  under  the  fruit  trees  of  her  father's 
orchard.  That  orchard  was  the  garden  of  Damvillers,  with 
the  rose-bushes  and  the  flowers  and  vegetables  growing 
together  under  the  pear  trees  and  apple  trees,  and  wild 
flowers  in  the  long  grass  of  the  meadow  beyond.  And  in  the 
background  lie  painted  the  white  walls  and  red  roof's  of  the 
cottage  at  Domremy.  Still  he  was  not  satisfied.  He  altered 
Jeanne's  attitude  and  represented  her  standing  under  an 
apple  tree,  with  her  right  arm  hanging  down  and  her  left 
hand  grasping  the  leaves  of  a  bush  at  her  side.  She  has 
started  to  her  feet,  overturning  the  spinning-wheel  in  her 
agitation,  and  listens  with  a  rapt  look  on  her  face  to  the 
voices  that  are  calling  her  by  name.  But  it  was  some  time 
before  the  artist  could  find  the  exact  head  that  he  wanted 
for  his  Jeanne  D'Arc.  The  type  of  face  was  to  be  that  of 
the  ordinary  Meuse  peasant-girl,  with  low  brow,  high  cheek- 
bones, and  square  chin.  But  the  right  expression  was  hard 
to  get,  and  he  drew  a  dozen  different  heads  before  he  could 


154  PICTURE   STUDY 

satisfy  himself.  When  at  length  he  succeeded,  he  wrote 
joyfully  to  his  friend,  Charles  Baude :  'I  really  think  1 
have  found  the  head  of  my  Jeanne  D'Arc,  and  every  one 
agrees  that  the  resolve  to  start  on  her  mission  is  well  ex- 
pressed on  her  face,  while  the  simple  charm  of  the  peasant 
is  retained.  Her  attitude  is,  I  think,  very  pure  and  gentle, 
as  it  ought  to  be.  ...  But  I  shall  see  you  soon,  and  I  had 
rather  leave  you  the  pleasure  of  the  surprise,  which  you 
will  receive  from  the  first  sight  of  the  picture.  You  will 
judge  of  it  all  the  better  and  be  better  able  to  tell  me  what 
you  think  of  it.' 

"  But  another  difficulty  remained  to  be  solved.  How  were 
unseen  voices  to  be  represented  ?  The  painter's  friends  were 
all  of  the  opinion  that  the  saints  whose  call  she  hears  should 
be  invisible.  .  .  .  But  this  idea  did  not  content  Bastien- 
Lepage  .  .  .  the  saints  must  be  present  if  the  mystic  mean- 
ing of  Jeanne  D'Arc's  story  was  to  be  fully  realized.  At 
one  time  he  thought  of  representing  the  gilt  and  painted 
images  of  the  patron  saints  of  Domremy,  as  hidden  among 
the  fruit  trees  of  the  orchard.  But  by  degrees  a  happier 
inspiration  prevailed.  In  the  pure  dreams  of  Jeanne,  he 
reflected,  the  'blessed  saints'  woiild  appear  in  a  glorified 
form,  with  the  light  of  paradise  on  their  brows.  And  so  he 
painted  the  great  Archangel  in  his  shining  armor,  and  the 
white-robed  virgins,  dimly  seen  through  the  luminous  mist 
that  streams  from  heaven. 

" .  .  .  The  strangeness  of  the  composition  repelled  the 
public,  and  many  of  the  painter's  warmer  admirers  were 
puzzled.  The  representation  of  the  voices  was  condemned 
on  all  sides,  and  the  critics  complained  of  a  certain  confu- 


JEANNE    I)' ARC  15o 

sion  of  form  and  want  of  atmosphere  and  perspective  in 
the  picture,  in  his  anxiety  to  be  perfectly  true  to  nature. 
The  details  of  the  background  were  too  elaborately  painted. 
The  mass  of  tangled  leaves  and  thorns  had  been  allowed  to 
come  too  far  forward,  and  interfered  with  the  effect  of  the 
central  figure.  And,  yet,  in  spite  of  these  defects,  P>asti en- 
Lepage's  'Jeanne  d'Arc'  remains  a  great  and  noble  picture. 
Xo  one  can  look  at  that  wonderful  face  and  form  without 
feeling  how  completely  the  artist  has  realized  his  own  idea. 
His  'Jeanne'  is  the  true  peasant-maid  of  Domremy,  pure 
and  good  and  simple,  and  wholly  rapt  in  thoughts  of  the 
unseen.  The  figure  itself  is  a  masterpiece  of  drawing. 
The  attitude  of  passionate  attention,  the  upraised  head,  and 
wide-open  bine  eyes  all  tell  the  same  tale."  —  Portfolio,  18'.).',. 

"In  that  year  [1879]  appeared  'Joan  of  Arc,'  his  master- 
piece in  point  of  spiritual  expression.  .  .  .  His  ideal  was 
to  paint  historical  themes  without  reminiscences  of  the  gal- 
leries—  paint  them  in  the  surroundings  of  the  country, 
with  the  models  that  one  has  at  hand,  just  as  it  the  old 
drama  had  taken  place  yesterday  evening. 

"The  scene  of  the  picture  is  a  garden  of  Damvillers, 
painted  exactly  from  nature,  with  its  gray  soil,  its  apple 
and  pear  trees  clothed  with  small  leaves,  its  vegetable  beds, 
and  its  flowers  growing  wild.  Joan  herself  is  a  pious. 
careworn,  dreamy  country  girl.  Kvery  Sunday  she  has 
been  to  church,  lost  herself  in  long,  mystic  reveries  before 
the  old  sacred  pictures,  heard  the  misery  of  France  spoken 
of;  and  the  painted  statues  of  the  parish  church  and  its 
tutelary  saints  pursue  her  thoughts.  And  just  to-day,  as 


156  PiriTRK    STl'DY 

she  sat  winding  yarn  in  tlie  shadow  of  the  apple  trees, 
murmuring  a  prayer,  she  heard  of  a  sudden  the  heavenly 
voices  speaking.  The  spirits  of  St.  Michael,  St.  Margaret, 
and  St.  Catherine,  before  whose  statues  she  has  prayed  so 
often,  have  freed  themselves  from  wooden  images  and  float 
as  light  phantoms,  as  pallid  shapes  of  mist,  which  will  as 
suddenly  vanish  into  air  before  the  eyes  of  the  dreaming 
girl.  Joan  rises  trembling,  throwing  her  stool  over,  and 
steps  forward.  She  stands  in  motionless  ecstasy  stretching 
out  her  left  arm,  and  gazing  into  vacancy,  with  her  pupils 
morbidly  dilated.  Of  all  human  phases  of  expression 
which  painting  can  approach,  such  mystical  delirium  is 
perhaps  the  hardest  to  render;  and,  probably,  it  was  only 
by  the  aid  of  hypnotism,  to  which  the  attention  of  the 
painter  was  directed  just  then  by  the  experiments  of  Char- 
cot,  that  Bastien-Lepage  was  enabled  to  produce  in  his 
model  that  look  of  religious  rapture,  oblivious  to  the  whole 
world,  which  is  expressed  in  the  vague  glance  of  her  eyes, 
blue  as  the  sea/'  —  Richard  ^father. 

"As  for  Bastien-Lepage,  his  picture  produces  on  the 
beholder,  at  first  glance,  the  effect  of  space  —  of  the  open 
air.  .Jeanne  d'Arc  —  the  real  Jeanne  d'Arc.  the  peasant 
girl  —  leans  against  an  apple  tree,  of  which  she  holds  a 
branch  in  her  left  hand,  which,  as  the  arm,  is  of  extreme 
perfection.  .  .  .  It  is  admirable:  the  head  thrown  back, 
the  strained  attitude  of  the  neck,  the  eyes  that  look  into 
the  future  —  clear,  wonderful  eyes.  The  countenance  pro- 
duces a  striking  effect:  it  is  that  of  the  peasant,  the  daughter 
of  the  soil,  startled  and  pained  by  her  vision.  The  orchard 


JEANNE    I)' ARC  1;")7 

surrounding  the  house  in  the  background  is  nature's  sell'; 
hut  the  perspective  seems  to  crowd  forward  on  the  view 
and  spoil  the  figure."  -  —  Marie  JianhkirtM{f. 

"  He  is  an  original,  a  powerful  artist;  he  is  a  poet;  he  is 
a  philosopher;  other  artists  are  mere  workmen  compared  to 
him;  he  is  grand,  as  nature  is,  as  life  is."-  —  Marie  Baxlt- 
kirtse/. 

.Jules  Bastien-Lepage  (1848-1.884)  was  born  in  Dam- 
villers  —  once  a  stronghold  of  Lorraine  —  of  well-to-do 
parents.  His  father  was  clever  with  the  pencil  and  kept 
his  son  at  work  drawing.  Afterward  he  became  a  post-- 
office official  in  Paris,  studying  in  the  afternoons  with 
Cabanel.  In  the  Franco-Prussian  War  he  joined  the  army 
and  took  part  in  the  defence  of  Paris.  He  returned  home 
ill,  and  finally  established  himself  there  as  an  artist.  His 
studio  was  in  the  second  story  of  his  father's  house,  lint 
he  oftener  painted  out  of  doors  in  the  orchard  or  in  the 
field.  His  grandfather,  in  a  brown  cap,  his  spectacles  upon 
his  nose,  with  his  horn  snuffbox  and  checked  handkerchief, 
often  sat  near  him,  or  worked  beside  him  weeding  and 
pruning.  A  portrait  of  his  grandfather  in  a  corner  of  the 
garden  was  his  first  great  work,  and  the  beginning  of  his 
preeminence. 

He  was  now  and  ever  after  adored  by  the  Parisians,  who 
fought  for  his  paintings  and  for  the  opportunity  to  work  in 
his  studio.  He  was  never  strong,  and  the  constant  excite- 
ment of  his  life  wore  him  out. 

those  who  were  devoted  to  him  was  the  brilliant 


158  PICTURE   STUDY 

Russian  girl,  Marie  Bashkirtseff.  When  she  learned  that 
he  was  dying  with  consumption  she  went  each  day  with 
her  mother  and  aunt  to  visit  him.  And  when  'at  last, 
from  the  same  disease,  she  was  unable  to  leave  her  home, 
he  was  carried  to  her  drawing-room  by  his  brother.  She 
died  a  month  before  him.  His  last  sketch,  "The  Funeral 
of  a  Young  G-irl, "  was  popularly  though  erroneously  sup- 
posed to  be  meant  to  immortalize  her  death. 

Method.  — That  the  children  may  understand  the  picture, 
either  tell  them  the  wonderful  story  of  her  life,  or  read  it 
to  them,  or  let  them  read  it  themselves. 

The  quotations  from  The  Portfolio  and  from  Muther  will 
give  to  the  teacher,  who  reads  it  picture  in  hand,  just  the 
facts  that  she  needs  to  know  to  understand  the  picture. 
By  means  of  questions  give  this  point  of  view  to  the 
child. 

Show  them,  if  possible,  the  Boutet  de  Monvel  illustra- 
tions of  Jeanne  d'Arc's  life.  These  may  be  obtained, 
together  Avith  the  text,  from  any  dealer  in  French  books. 
They  have  been  reproduced  in  a  recent  volume  by  the 
Century  Company. 

By  all  means  let  them  understand  the  beautiful  character 
of  the  man  and  the  greatness  of  the  painter.  If  they  know 
Dagnan-Bouveret's  "  Madonna,"  the  devotion  of  this  painter 
to  him  in  his  lifetime  and  to  his  memory  now.  will  show 
them  something  of  Bastieii-Lepage's  influence  over  men 
and  in  art. 

Of  his  many  great  pictures,  probably  the  one  which  first 
gave  him  a  reputation,  the  study  of  his  "  Grandfather,  the 
Fagot-gatherer,"  called  "Pere  Jacque,"  and  "The  Hay 


THE    MEETING  159 

Harvest,"  will  give  the  children  the  best  ide;t  of  the  depth 
and  the  range  of  his  genius. 

Marie  Kashkirtseff's  ''Meeting,"  painted  under  his  in- 
fluence, is  a  favorite  picture  with  children,  and  should 
be  shown  them  if  the  story  of  the  affection  and  admira- 
tion of  each  for  the  other  is  told  them.  (See  pp.  xxi, 

r>.  o,  r.) 

THE   MEETING  —  MAEIE  BASHKIRTSEFF 

Literature : 

HISTOHY  OK  MODERN  PAINTIM; Mut/ier 

JOURNAL  OF  MARIE  BASHKIHTSKKF. 

KSSAYS  AIJOUT  MEN,  WOMEN,  AND  BOOKS    .         .         .        /iin'fll 

ATLANTIC,  vol.  64,  p.  (i8'2:  SCRIHNER.  vol.  6,  p.  ()-W:  XINK- 
TKKNTH  CENTURY,  vol.  'J<>,  p.  (>0'J ;  CRITIC,  vol.  1~>,  p.  'JOT;  BLACK- 
WOOD,  vol.  140,  p.  ;$<)(> ;  LITERARY  WORLD,  vol.  'JO,  p.  l.~)0:  REVIEW 
OF  REVIEWS,  vol.  1,  p.  r>:5!)  ;  TEMPLE  HAH,  vol.  88,  p.  2(i:};  COS- 
MOPOLITAN, vol.  !),  ]>.  ir>;  FOHTXKJIITI.Y,  vol .  53,  ]>.  'J70 ;  CKN- 
TURY,  vol.  18,  p.  'J8 ;  GKNTI. K.MAN'S  MAGAZINE,  vol.  ")*J,  p.  odli. 

"  Her  last  picture  was  one  of  six  schoolboys,  sons  of  the 
people,  who  are  standing  at  a  street  corner,  chattering ;  and 
it  makes  a  curiously  virile  impression,  when  one  considers 
that  it  was  painted  by  a  blonde  young  girl,  who  slept  under 
dull  blue  silken  bed-curtains,  dressed  almost  entirely  in 
white,  was  rubbed  with  perfumes  after  a  walk  in  hard 
weather,  and  wore  on  her  shoulders  furs  which  cost  two 
thousand  francs.  It  hangs  in  the  Luxembourg,  and  for  a 
long  time  a  lady  dressed  in  mourning  used  to  come  there 
every  week  and  cry  before  the  picture  painted  by  the 
daughter  whom  she  had  lost  so  earlv." —  /{ii-tmnl  M>itln<r. 


lb'0  PICTURE   STUDY 

"  By  instinct  I  went  straight  to  the  chef-(Vwuore  —  to  chat 
"  Meeting,"  which  at  the  last  *S'a/o/i  had  engrossed  so  much 
attention;  a  group  of  little  Parisian  street-boys  talking  seri- 
ously together,  undoubtedly  planning  some  mischief,  before 
;i  wooden  fence  at  the  corner  of  a  street.  The  faces  and 
the  attitudes  of  the  children  are  strikingly  realistic.  The 
glimpse  of  meagre  landscape  expresses  the  sadness  of  the 
poorer  neighborhood."  —  Fram;oin  Coppi'e. 

The  following  history  of  the  development  of  the  idea  and 
fate  of  the  picture  is  taken  from  Marie  Bashkirtseff's 
'•Journal  ''  :  — 


li  Rwl-  Letter  !)«>/,  WeditcMla;/,  April  Jt.  —  Six  little  boys  in 
a  group,  their  heads  close  together,  half-length  only.  The 
elder  is  about  twelve,  the  younger  six.  The  eldest  of  the 
boys,  who  stands  partly  with  his  back  to  the  spectator,  holds 
a  bird's  nest  in  his  hands,  at  which  the  others  stand  look- 
ing. The  attitudes  are  varied  and  natural. 

"The  youngest  boy,  whose  back  only  is  to  be  seen,  stands 
with  folded  arms  and  head  erect. 

'•This  seems  commonplace,  according  to  the  description. 
but  in  reality  all  these  heads  grouped  together  will  make  an 
exceedingly  interesting  picture/' 

l'  MoinhtH,  -V^//  7.-  I  have  begun  the  little  <i<i.ininx  over 
again  from  the  beginning.  I  have  drawn  them  full  length 
and  on  a  larger  canvas:  this  will  make  a  more  interesting 
picture/' 

"  Tiicxdtif/,  M<tr<-li  11.  The  good  Robert  Fleury  dined 
with  us  this  evening.  lie  said  that  my  picture  of  the  little 


THK    MKKTINU, 


162  PICTURE    STUDY 

gamins  is  greatly  improved,  —  that  it  is  good  in  fact,  and 
that  it  will  be  accepted  at  the  Salon. 

" I  forgot  to  say  that  it  is  called  'A  Meeting.' " 

"  Wednesday,  April  30.  —  Things  are  not  so  bad  after  all, 
for  the  Gaulois  speaks  very  well  of  me ;  it  gives  me  a  sepa- 
rate notice.  The  article  is  very  chic.  .  .  . 

"Am  I  satisfied?  It  is  easy  to  answer  that  question. 
I  am  neither  satisfied  nor  dissatisfied.  My  success  is  just 
enough  to  keep  me  from  being  unhappy.  That  is  all. 

"  I  have  just  returned  from  the  Salon.  .  .  .  We  re- 
mained a  long  time  seated  on  a  bench  before  the  picture. 
It  attracted  a  good  deal  of  attention,  and  I  smiled  to  myself 
at  the  thought  that  no  one  would  imagine  the  elegantly 
dressed  young  girl,  seated  before  it,  showing  the  tips  of 
her  little  boots,  to  be  the  artist. 

"  Ah,  all  this  is  a  great  deal  better  than  last  year ! 

"  Have  I  achieved  success,  in  the  true  serious  meaning 
of  the  word?  I  almost  think  so." 

"  Monday,  May  12.  —  I  have  not  yet  achieved  the  suc- 
cess I  desire,  however.  But  neither  had  Bastien-Lepage 
achieved  the  success  that  he  desired  before  he  exhibited 
the  portrait  of  his  grandfather.  True,  but  nevertheless  — 
as  I  am  fated  to  die  soon,  I  want  success  to  come  quickly." 

Marie  Bashkirtseff  (1800-1884)  was  the  daughter  of  a 
wealthy  Russian  provincial  nobleman.  Soon  after  her  birth, 
her  mother  left  her  husband,  taking  with  her  both  Marie 
and  her  brother  Paul.  They  lived  successively  in  Russia, 
Vienna,  Nice,  Rome,  and  Paris.  When  she  was  thirteen, 


THE   MEETING  163 

Marie  began  to  keep  the  famous  "Journal "  by  which  she 
is  quite  as  well  known  as  by  her  pictures.  From  it  we 
learn  that  her  early  favorite  studies  were  Latin  and  Greek. 
When  still  a  child  she  spoke  fluently  French,  Italian,  Eng- 
lish, and  Russian.  Her  singing  voice  was  very  beautiful, 
but  she  lost  it  through  throat  trouble.  This  also  affected 
her  hearing.  After  she  had  given  up  singing,  she  threw 
herself  into  painting  with  such  ardor  that  in  a  few  months 
she  had  accomplished  what  ordinarily  takes  years. 

She  was  a  pupil  in  the  famous  studio  of  Julien,  and 
although  her  wonderful  skill  was  recognized  by  all,  yet  she 
was  not  a  favorite,  probably  because  she  was  overbearing 
both  by  birth  and  temperament.  At  first  she  came  to  the 
studio  dressed  in  white  according  to  her  lifelong  custom, 
but  she  soon  learned  that  it  was  impossible  to  work  so 
costumed,  and  adopted  black.  Over  her  gown  she  wore  a 
black  working  blouse.  On  one  occasion  she  worked  in  a 
ball-dress  all  one  evening  to  the  mingled  admiration  and 
amazement  of  her  fellow-students. 

Her  success  as  a  painter  was  scarcely  equal  to  her 
deserts.  Both  she  and  her  friends  confidently  expected 
numbers  and  medals  that  she  did  not  receive.  I  Jut  the 
fame  for  which  she  so  ardently  longed  came  to  her  after 
her  death  on  the  publication  of  her  ".Journal."  It  is  one 
of  the  several  books  which  first  leaped  into  prominence 
through  an  enthusiastic  sympathetic  review  written  by 
Gladstone. 

For  an  account  of  her  friendship  with  Bastien-Lepage, 
see  ]>.  ir>7. 

The   last   words    written   in   her   diarv   were,    "  I    can    no 


riCTflUO    STUDY 

longer  go  up  and  down  stairs.''  In  her  mother's  hand- 
writing below  is  written:  "Marie  Bashkirtseff  died  eleven 
days  later."  It  is  said  that  her  mother  was  almost  insane 
with  grief  at  her  death,  refusing  to  believe  it  possible  that 
the  child  was  gone.  For  several  years  —  perhaps  to  this 
day  —  she  kept  Marie's  studio  just  as  she  left  it,  with 
its  few  pictures  and  innumerable  studies,  and  it  was  at  her 
desire  that  the  ".Journal''  was  published  just  as  it  was 
written. 

Method.  —  AY  hat  are  these  children  doing  ?  ^A*hy  do  you 
think  so? 

Tell  them  something  of  the  woman  who  painted  the 
picture,  her  accomplishments,  her  hard  work,  and  the 
gradual  development  of  the  idea  in  her  brain.  Show  them 
if  possible  "Jean  et  Jacque,''  a  picture  whose  subject  can- 
not fail  to  appeal  to  them.  (See  pp.  xxi,  5,  6,  7.) 


A    MOTHER'S   CARE— ISRAELS 

Literature : 
HISTORY  OF  MODKKN   IJAIXTIX<;       .....     Mut/ier 

MA<;AZIXKOF  Airr.vol.  1:5. p. :{!)";  vol.  11). p.  181;  LKISTHK  Horn, 
vol.  45,  p.  (i4S;  MIDLAND,  vol.  !),  p.  :>01;  MTXSEY,  vol.  17,  p.  Hi:). 

"Josef  Israels  (1824-  '),  the  Dutch  Millet,  wanted  to 
be  a  rabbi,  studied  Hebrew  in  his  youth,  and  buried  him- 
self in  the  Talmud.  "When  he  left  school  he  entered  the 
small  banking  business  of  his  father.  .  .  .  But  in  1844 
Israels  went  to  Amsterdam  to  the  studio  of  .Jan  Kruseman, 
who  was  then  a  fashionable  painter.  His  parents  had  sent 


1(36  PICTURE    STUDY 

him  to  lodge  with  ;i  pious  Jewish  family,  who  lived  in  the 
Ghetto  of  Amsterdam.  He  was  enchanted  with  the  nar- 
row little  street  where  the  inhabitants  could  shake  hands 
from  one  window  to  another,  and  with  the  old  market  places 
where  there  gathered  a  swarm  of  Oriental-looking  men. 
Like  Rembrandt,  he  roamed  about  the  out  of  the  way  alleys, 
noted  the  general  dealers,  the  fishwives,  the  fruit-shops  with 
apples  and  oranges,  the  pretty  and  picturesque  Jewesses, 
and  all  this  life  condensed  into  such  a  little  space,  without 
at  first  contemplating  the  possibility  of  drawing  the  figures 
which  he  saw  around  him.  On  the  contrary,  like  a  diligent 
pupil,  he  followed  the  academical  instruction  of  Iwuseman, 
under  whose  guidance  he  produced  a  series  of  grand  histori- 
cal pictures  and  Italian  scenes  of  peasant  life. 

"  A  journey  to  Paris,  which  he  undertook  in  1845,  did  not 
in  any  way  cause  him  to  alter  his  ideas,  and  when  he  re- 
turned home  in  1848,  the  year  of  the  revolution,  the  result 
of  his  residence  in  Paris  was  exactly  the  same  as  that  of 
Millet's :  he  had  starved  himself,  studied  at  the  Louvre, 
and  seen  in  the  Salon  how  "  grand  painting  "  was  carried  on 
in  France.  Xow  he  took  a  room  in  Amsterdam  and  tried 
to  paint  as  Delaroche  had  taught  him.  .  .  .  Such  names 
as  ...  Delaroche  cannot  explain  what  Israels  became 
afterwards  for  Dutch  art.  As  with  Millet,  it  was  an  acci- 
dent, a  severe  trial  in  life,  which  decided  the  future  of 
Israels. 

"'Some  time  after  he  had  settled  in  Amsterdam  he  became 
exceedingly  ill  and  \vent  to  Zandvoort,  a  small  fishing  vil- 
lage near  Harlem,  for  his  health.  In  this  spot  hidden 
among  the  dunes  he  lived  solitarily  and  alone,  far  from  the 


A    MOTHER'S    CAHK  1(J7 

bustle  of  exhibitions,  artistic;  influences,  and  the  discussion 
of  the  studio.  He  lodged  with  a  ship's  carpenter.  He 
took  part  in  all  the  usages  of  his  housemates,  and  began  to 
perceive  amid  these  new  surroundings,  as  Millet  had  done  in 
Barbizon,  that  the  events  of  the  present  are  capable  of  being 
painted,  that  the  sorrows  of  the  poor  are  as  deep  as  the 
tragical  fate  of  ancient  heroes,  that  everyday  life  is  as 
poetic  as  any  historic  subject,  and  that  nothing  suggests 
richer  moods  of  feeling  than  the  interior  of  a  fishing  hut, 
bathed  in  tender  light  and  harmonious  in  color.  This  resi- 
dence of  several  months  in  a  distant  little  village  led  him 
to  discover  his  calling,  and  determined  his  further  career. 
Incessantly  he  made  studies  of  nature,  and  of  full-toned 
interiors,  simple  costumes,  and  the  dunes  with  their  pale 
grass  and  yellow  sand.  For  the  first  time  he  was  carried 
away  by  the  intimate  beauty  of  these  simple  things  steeped 
in  everlasting  poetry.  Like  Millet,  he  conceived  an  enthu- 
siasm for  the  life  of  peasants,  for  the  rudeness  of  their  out- 
line, for  their  large  form  .  .  .  appreciated  and  recognized. 
lie  married  in  1863  .  .  .  and  settled  down  ...  in  The 
Hague.  And  here  he  became  .  .  .  the  artist  whom  the 
world  has  delighted  to  honor.  Here  he  has  painted  one 
masterpiece  after  the  other.  .  .  . 

"Josef  Israels  lives  entirely  according  to  rule.  Every 
morning  at  nine  he  may  be  seen  walking,  and  by  ten  o'clock 
punctually  he  is  at  his  easel.  In  the  Koniginnengracht, 
that  quiet,  thoroughly  Dutch  canal  leading  to  the  Park,  his 
house  is  situated.  Little  red-roofed  houses  are  passed. 
houses  standing  out  with  some  piquancy  against  the  misty 
sky,  and  the  canal  is  fringed  by  trees,  which  cast  a  bright 


ln'8  riCTKKK    STUDY 

reflection  on  the  water.  ...  In  Israels'  house,  quietude 
prevails  without  a  sound.  Noble  Gobelins  subdue  the  voice, 
and  thick  carpets  the  footsteps.  Here  and  there  upon  the 
walls,  in  a  finely  outlined  black  frame,  there  hangs  an 
etching  by  llembrandt.  .  .  .  Behind  the  dwelling  there  lies 
a  garden  with  a  large  glass  house.  The  man  who  works 
here  is  very  small  in  stature,  and  has  a  high  treble  voice,  a 
puckered  face,  a  white  beard,  and  two  sparkling  eyes  which 
flash  out  upon  you  from  behind  a  large  pair  of  spectacles. 
Everything  about  him  has  a  nervous  mobility  like  quick- 
silver. Always  talking  and  gesticulating,  he  fetches  out 
old  pictures  when  a  visitor  comes,  and  looks  at  them,  in- 
clining his  head  to  the  right  .and  then  to  the  left :  then  he 
puts  himself  into  the  attitudes  of  his  net-venders  or  his 
potato-gatherers  for  the  sake  of  verification,  draws  great 
landscapes  in  the  air  with  his  arms,  sits  down  so  that  he 
may  get  up  again  immediately,  searches  for  something  or 
another,  and  at  the  same  time  recalls  a  remark  which  he 
has  read  in  the  newspaper.  Even  when  he  is  painting,  he 
paces  thoughtfully  between  whiles  up  and  down  the  studio 
with  great  hasty  strides,  bending  forward  with  his  hands 
clasped  behind  his  back."-  —  Richard  Mather. 

Method.  — AVhose  children  are  these'/  AVhv  do  you  think 
so?  What  is  she  doing?  What  do  you  see  in  the  house? 
How  is  it  different  from  your  house  ?  Why  ?  What  else  ? 
Out  of  doors  ?  Do  you  like  the  picture  ?  Why  ? 

Tell  them  something  of  the  painter. 

(See  pp.  xxi,  5,  G,  7.) 


APRIL 

(\ATURE) 


APRIL 


(NATURE) 


LAKE  AT   V1LLE   IfAVRAY—  COEOT 


Literature : 

HISTORY  01-    MoDERN   PAINTING 
HISTORY  OK  FRENCH  PAINTIXG 
MODERN  FRENCH  MASTERS 
BARBIZON  PAINTERS,  vol.  '1 


Muihf.r 
Strannhan 

Fdited  by  ./.  C.  run  Dyke 
((ireat  Artist  Series) 


PORTFOLIO,  vol.  1,  p.  (!();  vol.  <!,  p.  IK!;  CONTEMPORARY,  vol. 
20,  p.  157;  ART  .Joi  I:\AI.,  -Inly,  1SS!);  MACJA/INE  OF  ART,  June, 
1880;  COROT,  CFNTUKY  ^IA<;A/.INF..  .luiif,  l<s(sO;  CONTEMPORARY, 
vol.  2G  ;  XKW  KX<;I,A\I>  MACJA/.IXK.  vol.  5.  p.  (!!)•_';  poem,  ART 
JOTRXAL,  1897,  p.  '}•}•,  vol.  11,  [>.  L'OS.  (For  literature  of  the 
Barlny.on  School,  see  p.  :>1.) 

SONG  (Pipi'A  PASSFS)         ....     llroiniiiuj 
HF/ITRX  OF  SPHIXC;   ..... 
PROCRKSS  OF  SPRINC,   KARLY  SI-RIX<;      . 
Soxc;  OF  TIIF.   Sow  Kit          .... 

Sl'RIXO  ....... 

WIIITF.   MAX'S   FOOT:    IN    HIAWATHA 
LEGENDS    OF    BRUNHILO,    PERSEPHONE, 

and  THE  SLKF.PINC;    I>EAFTY. 
PERSF.PIIOXK   (('OLOMAT.   BALLADS) 
Tin.  COMING   OF  SPRING  .... 

THE  VOICE  OF  SPRING;      .... 

A   SPRING    SONG          ..... 

SPRING         ....... 

171 


Mrs.  /'r>*tn>i 

Nnm  P>  /•'•// 

.!//•>•.  //,  mnm 

.limn'*  l-'ri  i  iiinii   <  'Inrke 

Ai/r/(inl>    .1.  I'mrtrr 


172  PICTURE   STUDY 

SPRING    GRKKTING,    A    SUNIUSK    SONG, 


......  Sidney  Lanier 

MORNING     .......  Rents 

MORNING     .......  Fletcher 

SUTHIN'  IN  TIIK  PASTORAL  LINK,  Btglow 

Papers  ......  James  Russell  Lowell 

"  This  picture  of  Yille  d'  Avray,  the  home  of  Balzac  and 
Gambetta,  is  one  of  Corot's  most  characteristic  works, 
with  its  pond  in  which  is  reflected  the  landscape  around, 
the  graceful  birches,  his  favorite  tree,  in  its  spring  verdure, 
and  the  flower-dotted  foreground. 

11  1  only  saw  Corot  once.  It  was  in  some  woods  near 
Paris,  where  I  had  gone  to  paint,  and  I  came  across  the 
old  gentleman  unexpectedly,  seated  in  front  of  his  easel  in 
a  pleasant  glade.  After  admiring  his  work,  I  ventured  to 
say,  'Master,  what  you  are  doing  is  lovely,  but  I  cannot 
find  your  composition  in  the  landscape  before  us.'  He 
said,  'My  foreground  is  a  long  way  ahead,'  and,  sure 
enough,  nearly  two  hundred  yards  away,  his  picture  rose 
out  of  the  dimness  of  the  dell,  stretching  beyond  the  vista 
into  the  meadow."  —  George  Moore. 

''His  favorite  season  was  the  early  spring,  "when  the 
farthest  twigs  upon  the  boughs  deck  themselves  with  little 
leaves  of  tender  green,  which  vibrate  and  quiver  with  the 
least  breath  of  air.  He  had,  moreover,  a  perfectly  wonder- 
ful secret  of  rendering  the  effect  of  tiny  blades  of  grass  and 
flowers  which  grow  upon  the  meadows  in  June.  He 
delighted  in  the  verge  of  any  bank  where  tall  bushes  bend 
to  the  water;  and  he  loved  water  itself  in  undetermined 
clearness  and  in  the  shifting  glance  of  light,  leaving  it  here 


174  PICTURE    STUDY 

in  shadows  and  touching  it  there  with  brightness,  the  sky 
in  the  depths  beneath  wedded  to  the  bright  border  of  the 
pool  or  the  ravishing  outlines  of  the  bank  and  the  clouds 
passing  across  the  firmament,  and  here  and  there  embracing 
a  light,  shining  fragment  of  blue.  He  loved  morning 
before  sunrise,  when  the  white  mists  hover  over  pools  like 
a  light  veil  of  gauze,  and  gradually  disperse  at  the  first 
burst  of  the  sun.  .  .  . 

"  Amongst  trees  he  did  not  care  to  paint  the  oak,  the 
favorite  with  all  artists  who  have  a  passion  for  form,  nor 
the  chestnut,  nor  the  elm,  but  preferred  to  summon,  amid 
the  delicate  play  of  sunbeams,  the  aspen,  the  poplar,  the 
alder,  the  birch  with  its  white,  slender  branches  and  tremu- 
lous leaves,  and  the  willow  with  its  light  foliage.  ...  In 
Corot  a  tree  is  a  soft,  tremulous  being,  rocking  in  the  fra- 
grant air  in  which  it  whispers  and  murmurs  of  love  and 
joy."  •  —  Richard  thither. 

"And,  after  all,  what  is  art  but  rhythm?  Corot  knew 
that  art  is  nature  made  rhythmical."-—  George  Moore. 

"Corot  there  paints  with  wings  on  his  back."  —  Jules 
Dnpre. 

"Corot  helps  you  to  breathe,  but  there  is  more  air  in  his 
pictures  than  there  is  earth  or  rocks.  He  dreams  of  the 
country  all  the  while  he  is  painting  it."  —  Jules  Bastien- 
Lepage. 

"To  understand  my  landscapes,  you  must  at  least  have 
the  patience  to  wait  till  the  mist  rises."  —  Corot. 


LAKE    AT   VILLE    D'AVRAY  17/> 

"  A  landscape  painter's  day  is  delightful.  He  rises  early, 
before  sunrise,  at  three  in  the  morning,  and  sits  under  a 
tree  and  watches  and  waits.  There  is  not  so  much  to  be 
seen  at  first.  Everything  has  a  sweet  odor.  Everything 
trembles  under  the  freshening  breeze  of  dawn.  Bing!  the 
sun  gets  clearer;  but  he  has  not  yet  torn  away  the  vest  of 
gauze  behind  which  lie  the  meadow,  the  valley,  the  hills  in 
the  horizon.  Bing!  Bing!  The  first  ray  of  the  sun  i  .  .  . 
Another  ray !  The  landscape  lies  entirely  behind  the  trans- 
parent gauze  of  the  ascending  mists,  gradually  sucked  up 
by  the  sun,  which  permits  us  to  see,  as  it  ascends,  the 
silver-striped  river,  the  meadows,  the  cottages,  the  far- 
receding  distance.  At  last  you  can  see  what  you  imagined 
at  first.  Bam!  The  sun  has  risen.  .  .  .  Bain!  Everything 
sparkles,  shines!  Everything  is  in  full  light  —  light  soft 
and  caressing  as  yet.  The  backgrounds  with  their  simple 
contours  and  harmonious  tones  are  lost  in  the  infinite  sky 
through  an  atmosphere  of  azure  and  mist.  The  flowers  lift 
up  their  heads.  The  birds  fly  here  and  there."-—  Corof. 

''After  one  of  my  excursions,  that  is,  after  travelling  and 
making  sketches,  I  invite  nature  to  come  and  spend  a  few 
days  with  me,  and  then  my  foolishness  begins.  Pencil  in 
hand,  I  hear  the  birds  singing,  the  trees  rustling  in  the 
wind;  I  see  the  running  brooks  and  the  streams  charged 
with  ten  thousand  reflections  of  the  earth  and  sky  —  nay. 
the  very  sun  rises  and  sets  in  my  studio.''  •—  Con  it  to  Juli's 
Dupre. 

Camille  C1orot  (1700-187.")).  C'orot's  father  was  a  hair- 
dresser originally,  but  finally  assimilated  to  himself  his 


176  PICTURE    STUDY 

wife's  trade,  namely,  that  of  millinery.  He  was  a  polite, 
prosperous  little  man,  a  court  modiste  (Napoleon  I.)  of 
some  fame,  as  is  shown  by  this  sentence  from  a  contempo- 
rary play,  "I  have  just  come  from  Corot,  but  could  not 
speak  to  him;  he  was  locked  up  in  his  private  room,  occu- 
pied in  composing  a  new  spring  hat." 

After  a  high  school  education,  Camille  became  a  clerk 
in  a  dry  goods  house.  ]\f.  Dumesne,  in  his  charming 
"Souvenirs  Intimes,"  gives  the  following  account  of  his 
escape  from  trade :  — 

"Corot  begged  his  father  to  allow  him  to  leave  commerce 
and  become  a  painter,  for  it  was  what  he  desired  more  than 
anything  in  the  world.  His  father  reluctantly  consented, 
and  said,  'Your  sisters'  portions  were  ready  for  them  to 
the  minute,  and  I  was  hoping  soon  to  provide  properly  for 
your  establishment  in  life,  for  you  are  now  old  enough  to 
stand  at  the  head  of  your  own  house  of  business;  but  since 
you  refuse  to  continue  the  pursuit  of  your  trade  for  the  sake 
of  painting,  I  give  you  notice  that  during  my  life  you  will 
have  no  capital.  I  will  give  you  an  income  of  fifteen  hun- 
dred francs.  Never  expect  anything  else,  and  see  if  you 
can  get  along  with  that.' 

"  And  Camille,  much  moved,  embraced  his  father,  cry- 
ing, 'I  thank  you!  It  is  all  I  want,  and  you  make  me  very 
happy ! ' 

"  Almost  on  the  same  day,  giving  himself  time  only  to 
buy  the  necessary  tools  for  an  artist,  he  made  his  studio  in 
the  centre  of  Paris,  almost  close  to  the  paternal  house. 
He  went  down  the  tow-path  by  the  Seine,  not  far  from 
Pont  Royal,  looking  toward  the  city,  and,  full  of  joy, 


LAKK    AT   YILLI-:    D'AVUAY  177 

began  to  paint.  All  who  have  been  admitted  to  Corot's 
studio  know  this  first  performance  of  liis  brush.  He  used 
to  show  it  to  us,  and  say,  'While  I  was  painting  that,  it 
was  thirty-live  years  ago,  the  young  girls  who  worked  at 
my  mother's  were  curious  to  see  M.  (J;imille  at  his  new 
work,  and  they  ran  away  from  the  shop  to  come  and  look  at 
it.  One  of  them,  whom  we  will  call  Mademoiselle  Kose, 
came  ot'tener  than  the  others.  Hhe  is  living  still.  She  has 
never  married,  and  she  visits  me  from  time  to  time;  she 
was  here  last  week. 

•"Oh!  my  friends,  what  a  change.  And  what  thoughts 
it  starts!  My  painting  is  still  here, — it  is  as  young  as 
over,  — it  marks  the  hour  and  the  time  of  day  when  I  did 
it;  but  Mademoiselle  Rose  and  I,  where  are  we'/'' 

In  spite  of  his  kindly  gentleness,  he  knew  how  to  give 
a  rebuke,  as  the  following  story  will  show:  — 

A  presumptuous  young  artist  sketching  near  him  one  day, 
asked,  "  Why  do  you  omit  some  things  from  your  sketches? 
And  why  do  you  insert  others?  This  tree  is  not  in  the 
landscape.''  "Do  not  tell,"  answered  Corot,  "but  1  put 
it  here  to  please  the  birds." 

For  twenty-five  years  he  worked  and  studied  unhampered 
by  the  necessity  of  earning  and  spending  money.  Finally, 
when,  at  tiftv.  he  received  the  Cross  of  the  Legion  of 
Honor,  in  recognition  of  his  abilities,  his  father,  who  looked 
upon  him  still  as  a  child,  doubled  his  allowance,  saying, 
'•  Well,  Camille  seems  to  have  talent  after  all." 

He  lived  through  the  troublous  times  of  1S-4S  and  1S.")1, 
scarcely  realizing  what  was  going  on.  It  is  related  that 

N 


178  PICTURE   STUDY 

hearing  the  firing  on  the  barricades  during  the  revolution 
of  1848,  he  said,  "  What  is  the  matter?  Are  we  not  sat- 
isfied with  the  government?" 

Nevertheless,  in  187U  he  shouldered  his  musket  for 
France. 

Every  one  loved  "Papa  Corot,"  for  he  was  both  the 
master  and  the  comrade. 

Richard  Muther,  in  his  "History  of  Modern  Painting," 
gives  the  following  beautiful  account  of  his  death:  — 

"  His  end  was  as  harmonious  as  his  life  and  art.  Nothing 
troubled  his  end;  it  was  the  evening  of  a  beautiful  day. 
On  the  evening  of  February  23,  1875,  when  he  had  just 
completed  his  seventy-ninth  year,  he  was  heard  to  say 
as  he  lay  in  bed,  drawing  in  the  air  witli  his  fingers, 
'Mon  Dieu,  how  beautiful  that  is;  it  is  the  most  beautiful 
landscape  I  have  ever  seen.'  When  his  old  housekeeper 
wanted  to  bring  him  his  breakfast,  lie  said,  with  a  smile, 
'To-day  Pere  Corot  will  breakfast  above.'  Even  his  last 
illness  robbed  him  of  none  of  his  cheerfulness;  and  when 
his  friends  brought  him  in  the  news  of  the  medal  struck 
to  commemorate  his  jubilee  as  an  artist  of  fifty  years' 
standing,  he  said,  with  tears  of  joy  in  his  eyes,  'It  makes 
me  happy  to  know  that  one  has  been  so  loved.  1  have  had 
good  parents  and  dear  friends;  I  am  thankful  to  God.' 
With  those  words  he  passed  away  to  his  true  home,  the 
land  of  the  spirits,  not  the  paradise  of  the  church,  but  the 
Elysian  field  that  he  had  dreamt  of  and  painted  so  often. 

******** 

"When  they  bore  him  from  his  house  in  the  Faubourg 
Poissoniere  and  a  passer-by  asked  who  was  being  buried,  a 


LAKK    AT    VILLK    D'AYKAY  179 

fut  shopwoman,  standing  at  the  door  of  her  house,  answered, 
'1  do  not  know  his  name,  but  he  was  a  good  man.' 

"Beethoven's  symphony  in  C  minor  was  played  at  his 
funeral,  according  to  his  own  direction;  and  as  the  coffin 
was  being  covered,  a  lark  rose  exulting  to  the  sky.  'The 
artist  will  be  replaced  with  difficulty,  the  man,  never,'  said 
])upre,  at  Corot's  grave. 

^On  May  20,  1880,  an  unobtrusive  monument  to  his 
memory  was  unveiled  at  the  border  of  the  lake  at  Ville 
d'Avray,  in  the  midst  of  the  dark  forest  where  he  had  so 
often  dreamed./  He  died  in  the  fulness  of  his  fame  as  an 
artist;  but  it  was  the  forty  pictures  collected  in  the  Cen- 
tenary Exhibition  of  1889  which  first  made  the  world  fully 
conscious  of  what  modern  art  possessed  in  Corot,  -  -a  master 
of  immortal  masterpieces,  the  greatest  poet  and  the  tender- 
est  soul  of  the  nineteenth  century,  as  Fra  Angelico  was  the 
tenderest  soul  of  the  fifteenth,  and  AVatteau  was  the  greatest 
poet  of  the  eighteenth." 

Method. — What  do  you  see  in  this  picture?  Who  else 
sees  this,  too? 

AVhat  time  of  the  year  is  it?  AYho  painted  it?  Tell 
them  of  Corot's  beautiful  life  and  ideals.  (See  pp.  xxi, 

r>,  G,  7.) 


ISO  PlCTt'KE    STl'UV 


THE    WILLOWS  —  COROT 
Literature:  (See  pp.  171,  17").) 

This  picture  might  profitably  follow  a  nature  lesson  on 
the  willows.  For  a  guide  to  these,  in  addition  to  the  usual 
guides,  Mrs.  Dyson's  "Stories  of  the  Trees'"  will  be  found 
invaluable. 

Kuskin's  ''  Silvery  fountains  transfixed  in  air "  might 
have  been  written  of  this  picture,  so  faithfully  and  yet  so 
poetically  does  it  interpret  the  foliage  of  early  spring. 

Method.  —  Of  what  is  this  a  picture?  Why  are  the  trunks 
of  the  trees  so  dark?  Where  else  can  you  see  them?  Why 
are  the  branches  so  light?  Who  is  the  girl  who  leans 
against  the  tree  trunk?  What  is  she  doing?  Why  does 
the  path  look  beautiful?  Do  you  like  the  picture?  Why? 

See  p.  I"-'?  for  another  picture  by  Corot.  and  Tart  II. 
for  still  others.  (See  pp.  xxi,  5.  (>.  7.) 


182  PICTURE   STUDY 


DEDHAM  MILL,   ESSEX  —  CONSTABLE 

Literature : 

HISTORY  OF  MODERN  PAINTING Muther 

ENGLISH  SCHOOL  OK  PAINTING Chesneau 

GAINSHOROUGH  AND  CONSTABLE  (fireat  Artist  Series)  Arnold 

CENTURY  OK  PAINTERS  OK  THE  ENGLISH  SCHOOL          .  Redgrave 

STUDIES  IN  ENGLISH  ART,  vol.  '2          ....  Wedmore 

PORTFOLIO  PAPERS Hamerton 

CONSTABLE,  LIKE  AND  LETTERS,  edited  by  Leslie. 

ART  JOURNAL,  vol.33,  p.  150;  vol.  47,  p.  3(57;  MAGAZINE  OF 
ART,  vol.  0,  p.  334;  vol.  14,  p.  282;  PORTFOLIO,  vol.  4,  pp.  f)3,  108, 
117;  vol.  21,  p.  102  ;  LEISURE  HOURS,  vol.  30,  p.  400  ;  BLACKWOOD, 
vol.  58,  p.  257. 

This  is  the  first  plate  of  the  series,  "  English  Landscapes," 
to  which  he  writes  the  following  preface:  "It  is  the  desire 
of  the  author  in  this  publication  to  increase  the  interest  for 
and  promote  the  study  of  the  rviral  scenery  of  England  with 
all  its  endearing  associations,  with  her  climate  of  more  than 
vernal  freshness,  in  whose  summer  skies  and  rich  autumn 
clouds,  '  in  thousand  liveries  dighty  the  observer  may  daily 
watch  their  endless  varieties  of  effect." 

The  windmill  in  an  engraving  from  one  of  his  sketches 
entitled  "Spring"  is  one  of  those  in  which  he  worked;  and 
its  outline,  with  the  name  of  'John  Constable,  1792,'  very 
accurately  and  neatly  carved  by  him  with  a  penknife,  still 
remains  on  one  of  its  timbers.  .  .  .  His  younger  brother 


184  PICTURE    STUDY 

said  to  me,  "  When  I  look  at  a  mill  painted  by  John,  I  see 
that  it  will  go  round,  which  is  not  always  the  case  with 
those  by  other  artists." 

By  a  wind  miller  every  change  of  sky  is  watched  with 
a  peculiar  interest;  and  it  will  appear  from  Constable's 
description  of  the  picture  of  which  his  brother  speaks,  that 
the  time  spent  as  one  was  not  wholly  lost  to  him  as  a 
painter. 

"It  may,  perhaps,"  he  says,  "give  some  idea  of  one  of 
those  bright  and  silvery  days  in  the  spring,  when,  at  noon, 
large  garish  clouds,  surcharged  with  hail  and  sleet,  sweep 
with  their  broad  shadows  the  helds,  woods,  and  hills;  and 
by  their  depth  enhance  the  value  of  the  vivid  greens  and 
yellows  so  peculiar  to  this  season.  The  natural  history,  it 
the  expression  may  be  used,  of  the  skies,  which  are  so  par- 
ticularly marked  in  the  hail  squalls  at  this  time  of  the  year 
is  this :  The  clouds  accumulate  in  large  masses,  and  from 
their  loftiness  seem  to  move  but  slowly;  immediately  upon 
these  large  clouds  appear  numerous  opaque  patches,  \vhich 
are  only  small  clouds  passing  rapidly  before  them,  and  con- 
sisting of  isolated  portions  detached,  probably,  from  the 
larger  cloud.  These  floating  much  nearer  the  earth  may 
perhaps  fall  in  with  a  strong  current  of  wind,  which,  as 
well  as  their  comparative  lightness,  causes  them  to  move 
with  greater  rapidity.  Hence  they  are  called  by  wind 
millers  and  sailors,  messengers,  and  always  portend  bad 
weather.  They  float  midway  in  what  may  be  termed  the 
lanes  of  the  clouds;  and  from  being  so  situated  are  almost 
uniformly  in  shadow,  receiving  a  reflected  light  only,  from 
the  clear  blue  sky  immediately  above  them.  In  passing 


DKDHAM   MILL  185 

over  the  bright  parts  of  large  clouds,  they  appear  as  dark; 
but  in  passing  the  shadowed  parts,  they  assume  a  gray,  a 
pale,  or  a  lurid  hue."  —  From  Life  of  Constable,  Leslie. 

Constable's  love  for  spring:  "All  nature  revives,  and 
everything  around  me  is  springing  up  and  coming  into  life. 
At  every  step  I  am  reminded  of  the  words  of  Scripture,  "  I 
am  the  resurrection  and  the  life."  -—  From  a  letter  of 
Constable. 

"  I  love  my  native  village,  I  love  every  corner  and  cranny 
of  it.  As  long  as  I  can  hold  a,  brush  1  shall  never  weary  of 
painting  it."  —  Joint  Constable. 

"I  like  the  landscapes  of  Constable.  He  is  always  pic- 
turesque, of  a  fine  color,  and  the  lights  are  always  in  the 
right  places.  But  he  makes  me  call  for  my  greatcoat  and 
umbrella."  —  /<T//,sW/. 

"There  has  never  been  a  boy  painter,  nor  can  there  be. 
The  art  requires  a  long  apprenticeship,  being  mechanical 
as  well  as  intellectual." — John  Constable. 

"  I  have  already  alluded  to  the  simplicity  and  earnestness 
of  the  mind  of  Constable;  to  its  vigorous  rupture  with 
school  laws,  and  to  its  unfortunate  errors  on  the  other  side. 
1  nteachableness  seems  to  have  been  a  main  feature  of  his 
character,  and  there  is  a  corresponding  want  of  veneration 
in  the  way  he  approaches  nature  herself.  His  early  educa- 
tion and  associations  were  against  him.  ...  1  have  never 
seen  anv  work  of  his  in  which  there  were  any  signs  of  his 
being  able  to  draw,  and  hence  even,  the  most  necessary 


186  PICTURE    STUDY 

details  are  painted  by  him  inefficiently.  .  .  .  There  is  a 
strange  want  of  depth  in  the  mind  which  has  no  pleasure 
in  sunbeams  but  when  piercing  painfully  through  clouds; 
nor  in  foliage  but  when  shaken  by  the  wind;  nor  in  light 
itself  but  when  flickering,  glistening,  restless,  and  feeble. 
Yet  with  all  these  deductions,  his  works  are  to  be  deeply 
respected  as  thoroughly  original,  thoroughly  honest,  free 
from  affectation,  manly  in  manner,  frequently  successful  in 
cool  color,  and  especially  realizing  certain  motives  of  Eng- 
lish scenery  with  perhaps  as  nnich  affection  as  such  scenery, 
unless  when  regarded  through  media  of  feeling,  derived 
from  higher  sources,  is  calculated  to  inspire.''  —From 
Modern  Painters.  John  linxkin. 

"  He  is  the  most  genuine  painter  of  the  cultivated  land  in 
England.''  —  C.  R.  Leslie. 

"That  wonderful  man.  Constable,  is  one  of  England's 
glories."  •  —  Enfjene  Delacroir. 

.John  Constable  (177(>-1S.'>7)  was  the  son  of  a  wealthy 
English  miller,  who  wished  his  son  to  become  either  a 
clergyman  or  a  miller.  But  when  John  discovered  that  the 
plumber  of  the  village  spent  all  of  his  spare  hours  out  of 
doors  sketching,  his  intense  love  for  art  was  no  longer  to  be 
suppressed.  He  assisted  his  father  still,  and  was  notice- 
ably careful  and  diligent  in  his  duties;  but  every  moment 

t/  O  L. 

that  was  free  lie  spent  in  sketching.      Finally,  after  a  year's 
struggle,  his  father  decided  to  allow  him  to  become  an  artist. 
At    this    time    he    was    a    well-formed,    muscular,    good- 
looking,  young  fellow,  wearing  the  miller's  white  hat  and 


DKDHAM    MILL  1ST 

coat;  and  looking  so  well  in  them  that  lie  was  known  for 
miles  around  as  "'the  handsome  miller." 

The  opposition  to  his  love  affairs  was  much  longer  and 
more  determined.  In  the  end,  however,  in  spite  of  the 
opposition  of  her  Avealthy  relatives,  he  succeeded  in  marry- 
ing his  first  love,  and  with  her  lived  happily,  so  far  as  his 
domestic  life  was  concerned,  until  her  death.  But  as  an 
artist,  his  only  English  successes  were  in  portraiture.  His 
other  pictures,  unsold,  collected  to  such  an  extent  that  lie 
wrote,  finally,  the  famous  bitter  advertisement:  — 

'*  M.r.  John  Constable's  collection  of  landscapes,  painted 
by  his  own  hand,  is  open  every  day  gratis;  an  application 
only  is  required." 

In  France,  as  the  characteristic  bit  from  Delacroix  quoted 
above  indicates,  his  pictures  were  greatly  admired.  They 
are  even  said  to  have  been  the  forerunners,  if  not  tin- 
inspiration,  of  the  JJarbi/on  school.  (See  p.  .'!•!.) 

At  his  death  a  subscription  among  his  English  admirers 
was  raised  to  buy  one  of  his  greatest  pictures,  "The  Corn- 
field," and  place  it  in  the  National  (lallery. 

One  of  the  last  acts  of  his  life,  the  night  before  his  sud- 
den death,  was  to  cross  the  street  to  see  why  a  little  child 
was  crying.  She  had  hurt  her  knee,  but  not  seriously. 
Constable  comforted  her  and  gave  her  a  shilling.  It  was 
one  of  his  favorite  sayings,  "Children  should  be  respected." 

Method. — "With  questions  develop  the  meaning  of  the 
picture  with  its  showery  clouds;  the  mill  that  was  his  dear 
home;  the  boats;  the  church;  and,  at  the  other  side,  his 
favorite  tree,  the  ash. 

Tell  them  of  his  love  for  spring.      (See  pp.  xxi.   ~>.  l>,  7.) 


188  PICTURE   STUDY 


FEEDING    THE   IIEXS  —  MILLET 

(For  literature,  see  p.  'Jit.) 

This  is  one  of  tJie  happy,  familiar  scenes  which  Millet's 
own  domestic  life  enabled  him  to  paint  with  so  much  grace 
and  feeling.  The  child  on  the  doorstep  is  his  own,  and 
the  house  itself  is  not  unlike  his  own. 

Method.  —  What  is  the  woman  doing?  Why?  Who  is 
she?  Why  do  you  think  so?  Where  does  she  live? 
How  do  you  know?  What  time  of  the  year  is  it?  These 
are  examples  of  the  many  leading  questions  that  may  be 
asked  to  develop  the  story  of  the  picture. 

Tell  the  children  something  of  the  life  of  the  artist. 
(See  pp.  xxi.  5,  (5,  7. ) 


FEEUIX<;    T11K    HKN-v 


1'ICTCRE    STUDY 


Literature  : 

HISTORY  OK  MODKRX   PAIXTIM;.         ....     Mntlicr 
HISTORY  OK   FRKXCII   PAIXTIXI;  .....     Strannlmn 
PAIXTKRS  OK   HAKIM/OX,  vol.  1  ((Jreat  Artist  Series)  .     Mollrtt 
MAUA/.IXI:  OK  ART.  vol.  1'J.  pp.  isi,  i':;i  ;  CKXTCRY,  vol.  W.  p.  o. 

"Diaz  has  the  finest  career  before  him,  if  he  will  only 
work.  He  is  a,  fier  temperament  of  a  colonist,  and  what 
facility!  He  makes  his  pictures  as  an  apple  tree  makes 
apples." Viyalon  (a  fellow  student'). 

"As  soon  as  his  name  is  mentioned,  there  rise  in  memory 
the  recesses  of  a  wood,  which  the  autumn  has  turned  red — 
a  wood  where  the  sunbeams  play,  gilding  the  trunks  of  the 
trees;  naked  white  forms  repose  amid  mysterious  lights, 
or  there  advance  on  paths  of  yellow  gold  sand  gayly  draped 
odalisques,  whose  rich  costume  glitters  in  the  rays  of  the 
sun.  Few  have  won  from  the  forest  like  him  its  beauty  of 
golden  sunlight  and  verdant  leaves.  Others  remained  at 
the  entrance  of  the  forest;  he  was  the  first  who  really  pene- 
trated to  its  depths.  The  branches  met  over  his  head  like 
the  waves  of  the  sea'  the  blue  heaven  vanished,  and  every 
thing  was  shrouded.  The  sunbeams  fell  like  the  rain  of 
Danae  through  the  green  leaves,  and  the  moss  lay  like  a 


192  PICTURE    STUDY 

velvet  mantle  on  the  granite  piles  of  rock.  He  settled 
down  like  a  hermit  in  his  verdant  hollow.  The  leaves  quiv- 
ered green  and  red,  covered  the  ground,  sportively  gilded 
by  the  furtive  rays  of  the  evening  sun.  Nothing  was  to  be 
seen  of  the  trees,  nothing  of  the  outline  of  their  foliage, 
nothing  of  the  majestic  sweep  of  their  boughs,  but  only  the 
mossy  stem  touched  by  the  radiance  of  the  sun.  The  pic- 
tures of  Diaz  are  not  landscapes,  for  the  land  is  wanting; 
they  are  treescapes,  and  their  poetry  lies  in  the  sunbeams 
which  dance,  playing  around  them.  '  Have  you  seen  my 
last  stem? '  he  would  himself  inquire  of  the  visitors  to  his 
studio. 

"  These  woodland  recesses  were  the  peculiar  specialty  of 
Diaz,  and  he  but  seldom  abandoned  them  to  paint  warm, 
dreamy  pictures  of  summer.  For,  like  a  true  child  of  the 
South,  he  knows  nothing  of  spring,  with  its  light  mists, 
and  still  less  of  the  frozen  desolation  of  winter.  The  sum- 
mer alone  does  he  know,  the  summer  and  the  autumn;  and 
the  summers  of  Diaz  are  an  everlasting  song,  like  the 
springs  of  Corot.  .  .  . 

"Diaz  is  a  fascinating  artist,  a  great  charmer,  and  a  feast 
to  the  eyes.  .  .  . 

"When,  in  the  far  South,  amid  the  eternal  summer  of 
Mentone,  he  closed  his  dark,  shining  eyes  forever,  at  dawn 
on  November  IS,  1S7<>.  a  breath  of  sadness  went  through  the 
tree-tops  of  the  old  royal  forest  of  Fontainebleau.  Tin- 
forest  had  lost  its  hermit,  the  busy  woodman  who  pene- 
trated most  deeply  into  its  green  depths:  and  it  preserves 
his  memory  gratefully.  Unlv  go.  in  October,  through  the 
copse  of  Has  Hreau.  lost-  yourself  amid  the  magnificent  I'oli- 


SPRING  193 

age  of  these  trees,  of  the  growth  of  centuries,  that  glimmer 
of  a  thousand  hues  like  gigantic  bouquets,  dark  green  and 
brown,  or  golden  and  purple,  and  at  the  sight  of  this  brill- 
iant gleam  of  autumn  tones  you  can  only  say,  'a  Diaz!  '  : 
Iti<'h((rd  Mather. 

"You  paint  stinging  nettles  and  I  prefer  roses."  -—From 
Diaz  to  Millet. 

"  Dia/.  is  the  son  of  Giorgione,  the  cousin  of  Correggio,  and 
the     randson  of  Boccaccio."  •  —  From 


-  Virgilio  Diaz  de  la  IVna  (ISOS-ISTU).  The  first  of  the 
proud  pleiad  (the  Barbizon  school)  who  did  not  issue  from 
Paris  itself  is  I  Max,  who,  in  his  youth,  worked  witli  Dupr<: 
in  the  china  manufactory  of  Sevres.  Of  noble  Spanish 
origin,  lie  was  born  in  Uordeaux  in  1807,  after  his  parents 
had  taken  refuge  from  the  Revolution  [an  unsuccessful 
Spanish  conspiracy  against  King  .Joseph  Bonaparte],  across 
the  Pyrenees,  and  in  his  landscapes,  too,  perhaps,  the 
Spaniard  betrays  him  a  little.  .  .  . 

"He,  too,  was  long  acquainted  with  poverty,  as  were  his 
great  brother  artists,  Rousseau  and  Dupre.  Shortly  after  his 
birth  he  lost  his  father  [AV!IO  had  fled  for  safety  to  England]. 
Madame  Dia/,  entirely  without  means,  came  to  Paris,  where 
she  supported  herself  by  giving  lessons  in  Spanish  and 
Italian.  When  he  was  ten  years  old,  the  boy  stood  as  an 
orphan  on  the  pavement  of  the  vast  city.  A  Protestant 
clergyman  in  Belleone  then  adopted  him.  And  now  occurred 
the  misfortune  which  he  was  so  fond  of  relating  in  after 
yea,rs.  In  one  of  his  wanderings  through  the  wood  he  was 
bitten  bv  a  poisonous  insect,  and  from  that  time  he  was 


104  PICTURE    STUDY 

obliged  to  hobble  through  life  with  a  wooden  leg,  which  he 
culled  his  pilon  [drumstick].  [This  jest  is  characteristic  of 
his  point  of  view.  In  spite  of  his  lameness  he  was  always 
gay  and  bright,  running,  swimming,  and  playing  "hoppity- 
hop"  with  even  greater  eagerness  than  the  other  boys.] 

"From  his  fifteenth  year,  he  worked,  at  first  as  a  lame 
errand  boy,  and  afterward  as  a  painter  on  china,  together 
with  Dupre,  liaffet,  and  Cabat,  in  the  manufactory  of 
Sevres.  Before  long  he  was  dismissed  as  incompetent,  for 
one  day  he  took  it  into  his  head  to  decorate  a  vase  entirely 
after  his  own  taste. 

"  Then  poverty  began  once  more.  Often  when  the  even- 
ing drew  on  and  he  was  sheltered  by  the  dark,  he  wandered 
about  the  boulevards,  opened  the  doors  of  carriages  which 
had  drawn  up  at  the  pavement,  and  stretched  out  his  hand 
to  beg.  '  What  does  it  matter?  '  he  said.  '  T  shall  one  day 
have  carriages  and  horses  and  a  golden  crutch;  my  brush 
will  win  them  for  me.' 

"  He  exhibited  on  speculation  at  a  picture  dealer's,  in  the 
hope  of  gaining  a  hundred  francs  [he  asked  five  hundred], 
'  The  Descent  of  the  Bohemians,'  that  picturesque  band  of 
men,  women,  and  children,  who  advance  singing,  laughing, 
and  shouting  by  a  steep  woodland  road,  to  descend  on  some 
neighboring  village,  like  a  swarm  of  locusts.  A  Parisian 
collector  bought  it  for  fifteen  hundred  francs.  Diaz  was 
saved,  and  he  migrated  to  the  forest  of  Fontainebleau.  .  .  . 

'•'He  is  said  to  have  been  the  terror  of  all  game,  as  long  as 
he  was  the  housemate  of  Rousseau  and  Millet  in  Fontaine- 
bleau, and  wandered  through  the  woods  there  with  a  gun  on 
his  arm  to  get  a  cheap  supper. 


195 

"It  is  reported,  too,  tluit  when  his  pictures  were  rejected 
by  the  Salon  in  those  days,  he  laughingly  made  a  hole  in 
the  canvas  with  his  wooden  leg,  saying:  'What  is  the  use 
of  being  rich?  I  can't  have  a  diamond  set  in  my  pilon!' 

"In  these  years,  previous  to  185;"),  when  he  had  nothing 
to  do  with  any  picture  dealer,  the  immortal  works  of  Diaz 
were  executed."  —  Richard 


He  died  from  the  bite  of  a  viper,  according  to  some 
accounts,  but  more  probably  of  consumption. 

Meissonier  and  Dupre  were  among  the  pall-bearers.  l>ut 
although  many  others  spoke;  at  his  grave,  his  great  friend 
Dupre  was  silent. 

Later,  in  a  letter,  he  wrote  a  sentence  which  has  since 
become  famous  :  — 

"The  sun  has  lost  one  of  his  most  beautiful  rays!  " 

Method.  —  What  time  of  the  year  does  the  picture  repre- 
sent? 

Tell  them  something  of  the  painter,  particularly  of  his 
happy  boyhood  in  spite  of  his  terrible;  misfortune. 

If  possible,  show  them  some  of  his  more  characteristic 
wood  interiors,  although  even  in  these  Diax  loses  much 
—  almost  everything  —  in  reproduction.  (See  pp.  xxi. 

r>,  <;,  7.) 


MAY 
(NATURE) 


MAY 

(NATURE) 

IN  THE    OPEN  COUNTRY—  DUPRE 

(For  literature,  see  p.  20 ;  for  an  account  of  the  artist,  p.  20.) 

Method.  —  Wh at  time  of  the  year  is  it?  Why  do  you 
think  so?  The  time  of  day?  What  do  you  see  in  the  fore- 
ground? What  is  each  doing?  In  the  background?  Do 
you  like  the  picture?  Why? 

For  another  picture  by  the  same  artist  see  p.  27.  (See 
pp.  xxi,  5,  G,  7.) 

198 


200  PICTURE    STUDY 


^W^IAN  CHURNING  —  MILLET 

(For  literature,  see  p.  ~2(.) ;   for  an  account  of  the  artist,  p.  :U.) 

Method.  —  With  questions  develop  the  fact  that  the 
woman  is  a  peasant,  hard-working  and  gentle  (look  at  the 
cat),  making  butter  in  a  very  primitive  churn.  Notice 
the  poverty  of  the  room,  the  hen  in  the  doorway,  and  the 
wooden  shoes  of  the  peasant. 

For  other  pictures  by  Millet,  see  pp.  31,  135,  and  189. 
(See,  also,  pp.  xxi,  5,  (),  7.) 


20-J  PICTl'RE   STUDY 


SONG   OF   THE  LARK—'EKEHOK 

Literature : 

AUTOBIOGRAPHY  OK  JTLKS  BRK.TON. 

HISTORY  OK  MODERN   PAINTING  ....     Mnther 

HISTORY  OK  FRENCH   PAINTING Sfnintifmn 

MAGA/INK  OF  ART,  vol.  11,  p.  10!);  PORTFOLIO,  vol.  fi,  p.  :>; 
NATION,  vol.  5'J,  p.  "2'2'4;  ART  JOURNAL,  vol.  81),  p.  L'.SK  ;  LEISURE 
Horn,  vol.  '55,  p.  -M!l ;  ATLANTIC  MONTHLY,  vol.  (i<i,  p.  557. 

"Jules  Breton  wrote  many  poems,  and  a  vein  of  poetry 
runs  through  his  pictures.  They  tell  of  the  sadness  of  the 
land  where  the  fields  sleep  dreamily  beneath  the  shadows 
of  the  evening,  touched  by  the  last  rays  of  the  setting  sun; 
but  they  tell  of  it  in  verses  where  the  same  rhymes  are 
repeated  with  wearisome  monotony."  -  —  ///.s/o/v/  of  Modern 
Painting,  Mnthcr. 

"Breton  paints  girls  who  are  too  beautiful  to  remain  in 
the  country."  —  Millet. 

"In  the  glow  of  M.  Breton's  sunsets  any  figure,  however 
trivial,  would  be  transfigured;  and  if  he  goes  a  step  farther 
and  selects  figures  that  are  noble,  because  of  large  limbs 
and  manifest  bodily  sanity,  who  can  object'/"  —Garnet 
/Smith. 

"But  lie  is  a  skilful,  a  cultivated,  and  a  genuine  painter, 
and  has  had  a  history  of  uninterrupted  success,  his  presen- 
tation of  nature  and  of  humble  life  making  him  of  an 
accepted  excellence  in  both  landscape  and  figure.  In  this 


•204  PICTURE   STUDY 

estimate  he  has  united  the  suffrages  of  all  lands :  the  Ger- 
mans have  decorated  him;  England  bestowed  upon  him  a 
medal;  France,  a  chair  at  the  Institute;  and  Americans 
make  any  sacrifices  for  the  possession  of  his  pictures."  — 
Jlifitory  of  French  Painting,  Stranuhan. 

Jules  Breton  (1827-  ),  one  of  the  most  popular  of 
living  French  artists,  was  born  of  wealthy,  intelligent 
parents.  His  mother  died  when  he  was  but  four  years  of 
age;  so  Ids  uncle,  a  genuine  lover  of  nature,  came  to  live 
with  his  father,  to  help  bring  up  Jules  and  the  other  chil- 
dren. At  the  age  of  six,  Jules  determined  to  be  an  artist. 
This  was  the  more  remarkable  in  that  there  was  no  art  in 
Ids  native  town.  The  only  painting  that  he  had  ever  seen 
was  the  restoration,  by  means  of  bright  green  paint,  of  the 
four  statues  of  the  seasons  which  adorned  his  father's 
grounds.  This  made  upon  him  so  vivid  an  impression  that 
in  later  years  he  made  it  the  subject  of  a  poem. 

He  was  sent  to  a  religious  school  at  the  age  of  ten. 
While  there,  he  made  a  drawing  of  a  favorite  black  dog, 
named  Coco,  representing  him  in  a  cassock,  on  his  hind 
feet,  witli  a  book  in  Ids  paws.  Underneath  lie  wrote,  "  The 
Abbe  Coco  reads  His  "Breviary."  Unfortunately  this  was 
seen  by  one  of  his  teachers. 

"Did  you  do  this  through  impiety  or  to  laugh  at  your 
masters?"  he  asked.  Poor  little  Jules  did  not  know  at  all 
why  lie  had  done  it.  He  only  knew  that  it  was  certainly 
wrong  to  laugh  at  the  masters,  and  so  he  answered, 
trembling, 

"  Through  impiety." 


SONG   OF  THE   LARK  205 

His  master  whipped  him.  These  undeserved  blows 
caused  his  family  to  send  him  to  another  school,  where, 
fortunately,  the  atmosphere  was  more  favorable  to  his 
artistic  ambitions. 

He  has  always  been  a  hard  worker,  and  his  great  suc- 
cesses have  been  well  earned. 

His  brother,  Emile,  and  his  daughter,  Madame  Demont- 
Breton,  are  both  his  pupils,  and  both  excellent  artists. 

Method.  —  Who  is  the  figure?  What  season  of  the  year? 
What  time  of  day?  How  do  you  know?  Of  what  is  the 
girl  thinking?  (See,  also,  pp.  xxi,  ;">,  (>,  7.) 


200  PICTURE   STUDY 


HELPING   HAND  —  RENOUF 

Literature  : 
IIiSTouY  UK  FKKXCII  PAINTING Strnnahan 

His  "Helping  Hand"  is  a  charming  piece  of  marine 
genre,  in  which  .  .  .  the  heavy  yawl  and  the  sturdy  hand 
of  the  boatman  on  the  heavy  oar  enhance  the  puniness  of 
the  hand  of  the  child,  who  is  smiling  complacently  at  the 
thought,  in  which  her  father  indulges  her,  that  she  is  help- 
ing him  in  sending  the  boat  over  waves  that  are  raising  its 
bow  high  over  their  heads.  — Stranuhan. 

Emile  Renouf  (1845-  )  had  his  studio  for  some  time 
in  New  York  City.  While  there  he  painted  a  sunset  view 
of  Brooklyn  Bridge  and  the  river  that  roused  a  great  deal 
of  enthusiasm.  "A  Helping  Hand,"  is  perhaps  his  best 
work. 

He  returned  to  Paris  some  years  ago,  and  resides  there 
still. 

Method.  —  The  quotation  from  Stranahan  suggests  clearly 
the  line  of  questioning.  (See  pp.  xxi,  ,">,  G,  7.) 


208  PICTURE   STUDY 


THE    YOUNG  BULL  —  PAUL  POTTER 

Literature : 
THE  OLD  MASTERS  OF  BELGIUM  AND  HOLLAND.         .     Frowenlin 

AHT  JOURNAL,  vol.  4,  pp.  10o,  141;  vol.  8,  p.  110;  HAHTEH, 
vol.  67,  p.  .>58;  CENTUUY,  vol.  26,  p.  840. 

Fromentin,  it  is  true,  believes  in  tlie  greatness  of  the 
painter,  but  he  points  out  the  defects  of  the  picture  relent- 
lessly,—  says,  indeed,  that  it  is  ugly,  and  unconsidered; 
that  the  painting  is  monotonous,  thick,  pale,  heavy,  and 
dry;  that  the  arrangement  is  of  the  utmost  poverty;  that 
unity  is  lacking  since  it  begins,  no  one  knows  where,  lias 
no  end,  receives  light  without  being  illuminated;  that  it 
is  too  full,  without  being  entirely  illuminated;  that  the 
animals  are  ridiculous  in  form,  the  head  of  the  white  cow 
built  of  something  hard,  and  the  sheep  and  ram  modelled 
in  plaster;  that  no  one  could  defend  the  shepherd;  but 
that  the  cloud  is  in  its  true  place! 

"On  entering  the  Hague  one  confronts  the  finest  animal 
painted  —  Paul  Potter's  'Bull';  this  immortal  animal, 
which,  in  accordance  with  the  idea  of  classing  pictures  in 
a  hierarchy  of  celebrity,  deserves  to  be  placed  in  the  Louvre 


210  PICTURE   STUDY 

by  the  side  of  the  'Transfiguration,'  by  Raphael,  the 
'  Martyrdom  of  St.  Peter, '  by  Titian,  and  the  '  Com- 
munion of  St.  Jerome,'  by  Domenichino;  this  'Bull'  for 
which  England  would  gladly  pay  a  million  of  francs,  and 
which  Holland  would  not  sell  for  double  that  amount.  On 
the  subject  of  this  painting  more  pages  have  been  written 
than  the  painter  gave  strokes  of  his  brush,  and  writings  and 
disputings  are  carried  on  about  it  as  if,  instead  of  being  a 
picture,  it  was  a  living  creature,  a  new  creation. 

"The  supreme  merit  of  the  bull  can  be  expressed  in  a 
single  word:  he  is  'living.'  The  fiery  eyes,  which  betoken  a 
vigorous  vitality  and  a  savage  ferocity,  are  so  well  depicted 
that  involuntarily  one  glances  from  right  to  left,  as  would 
naturally  be  done  if  the  animal  were  met  on  the  plain. 
His  black,  humid  nostrils  seem  to  absorb  and  send  forth  the 
air  with  his  deep  breathings.  The  hairs  are  painted,  one 
by  one,  with  all  their  wavings  and  creases;  one  can  see  the 
traces  of  rubbing  against  the  trees  and  the  ground;  one 
might  almost  swear  they  are  real  hairs  attached  to  the 
canvas.  The  other  accessories  are  not  inferior;  the  head 
of  the  cow,  the  wool  of  the  sheep,  the  flies,  the  grass,  the 
leaves  and  stems  of  the  plant,  the  moss, — everything  is 
reproduced  with  wonderful  exactness.  l>ut  whilst  render- 
ing ample  justice  to  the  infinite  skill  of  the  artist,  one  does 
not  realize  the  patience  and  labor  of  the  reproduction;  it 
seems  almost  as  if  the  work  must  be  the  result  of  inspira- 
tion, of  a  passion,  during  which  the  painter,  seized  with  a 
sort  of  fury  for  truth,  had  no  moments  of  hesitation  or 
fatigue. 

'•  Innumerable  judgments  have  been  passed  upon  this  mar- 


THE    YOUNG    BULL  211 

vellous  work  of  a  young  man  of  twenty-four  years  of  age. 
The  dimensions  have  been  criticised,  and  they  have  been 
judged  to  be  excessive  for  the  vulgar  nature  of  the  subject; 
the  absence  of  luminous  effects,  because  the  light  is  everv- 
\vhere  impartially,  and  throws  all  objects  into  relief  with- 
out the  contrast  of  shadows;  the  rigidity  of  the  bull's  legs; 
the  coloring,  somewhat  hard,  of  the  plants  and  animals  in 
the  background;  and  the  heaviness  of  the  shepherd's  lace. 
Notwithstanding  all  these  faultfindings,  Paul  J 'otter's 
'Hull'  remains  crowned  with  the  glory  of  being  one  of 
the  great  masterpieces  of  art  in  Europe;  and  will  probably 
always  be  ranked,  by  the  public,  as  the  most  renowned 
work  of  the  prince  of  animal  painters. 

"  With  his  '  l>ull, '  "  says  a  discriminating  writer,  "  he  has 
written  a  true  idyl  of  1  [ollaud."  •  —  I'J<hiton<]<>  ilc  Amii-i*. 

''Do  you  not  recognize  under  the  external  form  of  Paul 
Potter's  animals  the  real  life  of  each  of  them,  a  manifesta- 
tion of  their  typical,  essential  nature'.'  The  pose,  the  look. 
the  step  of  each  one  tells  the  individual  story."  -—  Abb*''  tie 
Lnmenais. 

"Let  us  have  cattle  and  market  vegetables.  This  is  the 
first  and  essential  character  of  the  Holland  landscape  art. 
Its  second  is  a  worthier  one:  a  respect  for  rural  life. 

"  1  should  attach  greater  importance  to  this  rural  feeling 
if  there  were  any  true  humanity  in  it.  or  any  feeling  for 
beauty.  15ut  there  is  neither.  No  incidents  of  this  lower 
life  are  painted  for  the  sake  of  the  incidents,  but  onlv  for 
the  effects  of  light.  You  will  tind  that  the  best  Dutch 
painters  do  not  care  about  the  people,,  but  about  the  lustres 


212  PICTURE    STUDY 

on  them.  Paul  Potter,  their  best  herd  and  cattle  painter, 
does  not  care  even  for  sheep,  but  only  for  wool ;  regards 
not  cows,  but  cowhide.  He  attains  great  dexterity  in 
drawing  tufts  and  locks,  lingers  in  the  little  parallel 
ravines  and  furrows  of  fleece  that  open  across  sheep's  backs 
as  they  turn;  is  unsurpassed  in  twisting  a  horn- or  pointing 
a  nose;  but  he  cannot  paint  eyes,  nor  perceive  any  con- 
dition of  an  animal's  mind,  except  its  desire  of  grazing."  — 
Modern  Painters,  John  Raskin. 

Paul  Potter  (1625-1654)  was  the  son  of  a  painter.  His 
father  was  his  only  teacher.  It  is  said  that  at  the  age  of 
fourteen  he  was  a  skilful  artist. 

Before  he  was  twenty  he  left  his  father's  house  to  care 
for  himself,  going  first  to  Delft  and  then  to  the  Hague. 
Here  he  lodged  with  a  famous  architect  of  the  day,  and 
proceeded  at  once  to  fall  in  love  with  the  beautiful  daughter 
of  the  house.  The  father  refused  to  allow  Paul  Potter  to 
marry  her,  however,  saying,  contemptuously,  that  he  would 
not  give  his  daughter  to  an  artist  who  could  paint  nothing 
but  animals. 

Paul  Potter  kept  on  painting  animals,  nevertheless. 
Indeed,  it  was  shortly  after  this  that  he  produced  the 
famous  "Bull"  originally  intended  fora  sign  to  a  butcher's 
shop.  He  soon  became  famous,  and  the  architect  repenting 
his  judgment,  Paul  Potter  married  the  daughter. 

His  house  became  the  rendezvous  for  all  the  artists,  lit- 
erary men,  and  distinguished  strangers  of  the  Hague.  He 
painted  usually  in  a  studio  filled  with  visitors,  with  whom 
he  chatted  as  he  worked. 


THE   YOUNG   BULL 

After  painting  all  day,  lie  would  engrave  or  etch  all  the 
evening.  This  constant  work  quickly  undermined  his 
health,  according  to  some  writers.  More  reasonably  it 
was  a  characteristic  symptom  of  his  disease  (consumption). 

He  died  at  the  age  of  twenty-nine. 

Method  (see  pp.  xxi,  ;">,  (>,  7). — The  line  of  questioning 
to  show  the  content  of  the  picture  has  been  outlined  clearly 
in  the  quotations  from  l)e  Aiuicis  and  Fromentin. 

Tell  the  children  something  of  the  life  of  the  artist. 


JUNE 

(VACATION-   DAYS  i\  OTHKI;   LANDS) 


JUNE 
(VACATION  DAYS  ix  OTHER  LAXDS) 

ALGERIA 
ARAB  AT  PR. A  YER  —  PORTUNY 

Literature  : 

HISTORY  or  MODERN   PAINTING Muther 

FORITNY  ..........      Yriurte 

FORTUNY.         .........     Dtti'illier 

MAGA/.IXK  or  ART,  vol.  1,  p.  77:  HARPER,  vol.  7(5,  p.  4!»1  ; 
ATLANTIC,  vol.  .">S,  p.  ."iliti;  NATION,  vol.  -1:5,  p.  So;  CKXTI/RY, 
vol.  1.  )>.  !•"». 

Algeria  and  the  Arabs  :  WINTERS  IN  AI.GERIA,  F.  A.  BRIIH;MAX; 
P>ov  TRAVELLERS  ix  THE  LEVANT,  vol.  V,  Kxox:  Kxon<-AnorT 
Ci.ru  IN  NORTH  AERH  A.  (  )HER  :  Lrn  ELL'S  LIVING  At ;E,  vol.  7^, 
p.  !!».");  vol.  l.'iS,  ],.  7-Jii:  vol.  l!ll.  ]>.  Hi.");  vol.  l!i:'».  )>.  -JSi);  HARI-ER, 
vol.  7<i.  p] >.  <!.">:!,  s  |."i :  vol.  77.  ]>.  7."> :  ALL  TIII-:  YEAR  IJorxn,  vol.  7-1, 
]>.  is.");  I-lci.EcTic.  vol.  s.  p.  oiil;  LEISCRE  lion:,  vol.  s.  p.  ^:\(\; 
vol.  -!S.  p.  tit  it; ;  M  CXSEY.  pp.  7,  Hi.") :  CH  ATTAINT  AX.  vol.  1(1.  p.  4:54. 
IRVIXU'S  AI.IIAMHRA  and  jilioto^raplis  of  the  Alliamlira  will  be 
interesting  as  oilier  illustrations  of  the  same  architecture. 

"The  time  that  I  spent  with  Fortuity  yesterday  is  haunt- 
ing me  still.  Wliat  a,  ma^nitieent  fellow  he  is!  lie  jtuiuts 
the  most  marvellous  things,  and  is  master  of  us  all.  I  wisli  I 

217 


218  PICTURE    STUDY 

could  show  you  the  two  or  three  pictures  that  lie  has  in 
hand,  or  his  etching  and  water-colors.  They  inspire  me 
with  a  real  disgust  of  my  own.  Ah!  Fortuny,  you  spoil  my 
sleep  ."  —  Henri  llerjnan.lt. 

"  In  these  days  the  enthusiasm  for  Fortuny  is  no  longer 
so  glowing.  ...  He  is  a  charmer  who  dazzles  the  eyes, 
rather  creates  a  sense  of  astonishment  than  holds  the  spec- 
tator in  his  grip.  Beneath  his  hands  painting  has  become 
a  matter  of  pure  virtuosity,  a  marvellous  flaring  framework 
that  amazes  —  leaves  us  cold  after  all.  "With  enchanting 
delicacy  lie  runs  though  the  brilliant  gamut  of  radiant 
colors  upon  the  small  keyboard  of  his  little  pictures,  painted 
with  a  pocket  lens;  and  everything  glitters  golden,  like  the 
dress  of  a  fairy.  To  the  patience  of  a  Meissonier  he 
united  a  delicacy  of  color,  a  wealth  of  pictorial  point,  and 
a  crowd  of  delightful  trifles,  which  combine  to  make  him 
the  most  exquisite  and  fascinating  juggler  of  the  palette  — 
an  amazing  colorist,  a  wonderful  clown,  an  original  and 
subtle  painter  with  vibrating  nerves,  but  not  a  truly  great 
and  moving  artist."  •  —  Richard  ^father. 

"Mariano  Fortuny  (18.'58-1S74),  although  distinctively  a 
French  artist,  was  born  in  Spain  of  Spanish  parents. 

"He  grew  up  amid  poor  surroundings,  and  when  he  was 
twelve  years  of  age  he  lost  his  father  and  mother.  His 
grandfather,  an  enterprising  and  adventurous  joiner, '  had 
made  for  himself  a  cabinet  of  wax  figures,  which  he  ex- 
hibited from  town  to  town.  With  his  grandson  he  went 
through  all  the  towns  of  Catalonia,  the  old  man  showing 


220  PICTURE   STUDY 

the  wax  figures,  which  the  boy  had  painted.  Whenever  he 
had  a  moment  free,  the  latter  was  drawing,  carving  in 
wood,  and  modelling  in  wax.  It  chanced,  however,  that 
a  sculptor  saw  his  attempts,  spoke  of  them  in  Fortuny's 
birthplace,  and  succeeded  in  inducing  the  town  to  make  an 
allowance  of  eight  dollars  a  month  to  a  lad  whose  talent 
had  so  much  promise.  By  these  means  Fortuny  was  ena- 
bled to  attend  the  Academy  of  Barcelona  during  four  years. 
In  1857,  when  he  was  nineteen  years  of  age,  he  received 
the  Prix  de  Rome.  [Just  as  he  was  about  to  set  out  on  his 
journey  he  was  conscripted.  An  admiring,  wealthy,  and 
aristocratic  family  in  the  town,  however,  secured  his  release 
by  a  payment  of  three  hundred  dollars. 

"  His  daytime  in  Rome  was  spent  in  copying  the  old  mas- 
ters and  his  evenings  in  the  'academy  of  Gigi,'  so  called 
from  the  name,  or  rather  nickname,  of  the  model,  who  had 
fitted  out  a  room  where  artists  could  work  at  night,  both 
from  the  nude  and  from  costumed  figures.  His  comrades 
of  this  period,  themselves  now  celebrated  artists,  say  that 
he  was  never  idle.] 

''But  whilst  he  was  copying  the  pictures  of  the  old 
masters  there,  a  circumstance  occurred  which  set  him  upon 
another  course.  The  war  between  Spain  and  the  Emperor 
of  Morocco  determined  his  future  career.  Fortuny  was  then 
a  young  man  of  twenty-three,  very  strong,  rather  thick-set, 
quick  to  resent  an  injury,  taciturn,  resolute,  and  habituated 
to  exertion.  His  residence  in  the  East,  which  lasted  from 
five  to  six  months,  was  a  discovery  for  him  —  a  feast  of 
delight.  He  found  the  opportunity  of  studying  in  the  im- 
mediate neighborhood  a  people  whose  life  was  opulent  in 


ARAB   AT   J'KAYKR  221 

color  and  wild  in  movement;  and  he  beheld  with  wonder 
the  gleaming  pictorial  episodes  so  variously  enacted  before 
him,  and  the  rich  costumes  upon  which  the  radiance  of  the 
South  glanced  in  a  hundred  reflections.  .  .  . 

"The  studio  which  he  built  for  himself  after  his  marriage 
with  the  daughter  of  Federigo  Madrazo  in  Rome  was  a  little 
museum  of  the  most  exquisite  products  of  the  artistic  crafts 
of  the  West  and  the  East.  The  walls  were  decorated  witli 
brilliant  Oriental  stuffs,  and  the  great  glass  cabinets  with 
Moorish  and  Arabian  weapons,  and  the  old  tankards  and 
glasses  from  Murano  stood  around.  He  sought  and  col- 
lected everything  that  shines  and  gleams  in  varying  color. 
That  was  his  world  and  the  basis  of  his  art."  -  —  Richard 
Muther. 

His  studio  was  the  rendezvous  of  his  friends,  to  whom 
he  listened  and  with  whom  he  conversed  as  he  worked. 
From  them,  while  they  were  still  freely  and  unconstrain- 
edly  talking,  he  made  studies  and  portraits. 

For  general  society  he  cared  nothing  at  all,  and  never 
visited  except  at  houses  where  he  could  work  as  he  sat. 

His  fatal  illness  was  brought  on  by  an  imprudent  eager- 
ness to  be  at  work  in  a  new  studio  iu  a  villa  which  had 
been  for  a  long  time  unoccupied,  and  was,  in  consequence, 
damp. 

He  was  working  when  he  died.  Death  came  to  him 
while  he  was  in  the  very  act  of  making  a  design  for  an 
album  from  a  mask  of  Beethoven. 

Method.  —  Precede  the  study  of  this  picture  with  lessons 
on  Algeria  and  the  Arabs.  The  books  given  above  are  fully 


222  PICTUKE    STUDY 

illustrated.  AVith  their  aid  the  costumes  of  the  Arab,  — 
the  mail  with  his  turban,  the  lung  hood  reaching  from  his 
neck  to  his  heels,  his  ido\ving  sleeveless  burnous,  his  swords, 
and  the  woman  with  her  enveloping  haik,  three  yards  by 
nearly  two,  her  veil,  her  seventeen-yard  pantaloons,  and 
her  anklets  filled  with  shot,  — will  become  realities  to  them. 
Make  them  familiar,  too,  Avith  the  exteriors  of  the  mosques, 
with  their  minarets  from  which  the  muezzin,  usually  blind, 
proclaims  the  hours  of  prayer.  u  Sleep  is  good,  but  prayer 
is  better,''  he  calls,  and  then  the  Arabs,  with  their  faces 
toward  Mecca,  fall  on  their  knees  on  a  rug  spread  for  the 
purpose.  In  the  centre  of  the  open  court  of  the  mosque  is 
found  the  water  for  the  ablutions  required  by  the  Moslem 
ritual.  A  jug  of  water  is  usually  found  in  the  prayer  room, 
but  the  most  important  part  of  this  room  is  the  niche  which 
directs  the  eyes  of  the  worshipper  toward  Mecca.  As  a 
rule,  the  women  are  expected  to  say  theirs  at  home,  but 
some  mosques  have  an  upper  room  specially  reserved  for 
them.  Other  of  Fortuny's  pictures  of  the  Arabs  may  be 
used  to  advantage,  for  example,  the  "  Suppliants/'  the 
'•Snake  Charmer/'  the  ''•  Juggler/'  the  "Sword  Dance." 
(See  pp.  xxi,  5,  G,  7.) 

A  FIUC  A 

.1  K.  Ui  YL  —  SCHREYEK 
Literature  : 
HISTOUY  01    Mom;i;\    PAINTING.          ....     Mutln-r 

IIlSToltY    <>F    FUKNCII     PAINTING    .....       Strtniu/n/n 

MAGA/INK  OK   ART,  vol.  is.  ji.  l:):>;   MCNSKY.  vol.  11.  ]>.  Jiil. 
Kabyl :    See  books  on  Northern  Africa,  p.  L'17  ;   ScRIBXER's 
MAGAZINE,  vol.  -,  p.  o7o. 


224  PICTURE    STUDY 

A  Kabyl  is  one  of  the  Berber  inhabitants  of  either  Alge- 
ria, Tunis,  or  perhaps  some  of  the  oases  of  the  Sahara. 
When  young  they  look  like  the  English  peasants,  with 
their  fair  hair,  blue  eyes,  and  white  skins;  but,  like  the 
Arabs,  most  of  them  soon  become  brown  in  the  sun.  The 
monuments  of  Egypt  show  that  the  type  is  ancient  and 
local. 

Of  a  similar  picture  :  — 

"The  other  print  called  up  before  me  all  the  charm,  the 
glow,  the  dreaminess  of  Africa.  A  horseman  on  a  thorough- 
bred Arab,  standing  on  the  top  of  a  hillock,  is  surveying  a 
vast  plain.  The  smoke  of  a  cannon  like  a  tiny  cloud  on  the 
horizon  hangs  for  an  instant  in  the  hot,  quivering  atmos- 
phere. The  attitude  is  noble,  grandly  indifferent;  silky 
is  the  horse's  coat,  and  flexible  his  neck  —  as  only  an  Arab 
can  be.  All  Africa  seemed  to  rise  up  before  me,  conjured 
up  by  this  figure,  so  true,  as  a  whole,  in  its  general  effects 
and  in  its  smallest  details.  .  .  . 

"Tall,  broad-shouldered,  full  of  energy,  Schreyer,  who  is 
sixty-five  years  of  age,  does  not  look  more  than  fifty.  His 
eye  is  extremely  bright,  and  rests  on  all  he  looks  on  without 
impatience  or  haste  ;  and  his  face  and  expression  explain 
the  man  better  than  pages  of  biography.  They  reveal 
his  devotion  to  his  art,  the  loving  movement  of  his  brush, 
the  slow  maturing  of  his  pictures,  to  which  he  gives  the 
appearance  of  absolute  infinity  in  broad  outline,  and  then 
leaves  them  to  ripen  in  his  studio  and  to  become  familiar 
before  finishing  them  with  vivid  accuracy  of  execution  and 
touch. 

"In  the  ardor  of   work  everything  serves  his  turn,    his 


A    KABYL  225 

fingers  as  well  ;is  his  brushes,  or  even  the  palm  of  his  hand; 
but  lie  is  never  weary  of  touching  up  and  working  over  a 
canvas;  adding  even  when  one  sees  completeness,  the  im- 
perceptible little  spark  which  stamps  a  masterpiece."  — 
Mdyttzine  of  Art,  IS')'),  J'rince  Bojidar  Karageorgevitch. 

"Schreyer,  who  still  lives  in  Paris,  belongs  to  the  follow- 
ing of  Fromentin.  The  Arab  and  his  steed  interested  him, 
also.  In  his  pictures  everything  tends  to  make  a  blooming 
bouquet  of  colors,  \vhich  daz/.le  the  eye.  White  horses 
rear,  tossing  their  manes  and  distending  their  nostrils; 
and  Arabs,  in  rich  and  picturesque  costumes,  are  either 
mounted  upon  them  or  lying  upon  the  ground.  The  desert 
spreads  around  in  undulating  banks  of  sand,  sometimes 
clouded  by  a  pale  horizon,  sometimes  caressed  by  a  mild 
evening  sun,  the  beams  of  which  touch  the  furrows  of  the 
earth  with  gold.  Schreyer  is  —  for  a  German  —  a  man  with 
an  extraordinary  gift  for  technique  and  a  brilliantly  effec- 
tive sense  of  life."  —  lliclmrd  Mntlier. 

Adolph  Schreyer  (ISi'S-  ),  u  German  artist,  spent  two 
years  in  a  military  riding  school  studying  the  horse.  After 
this  he  worked  in  the  art  schools  of  Munich  and  Diissel- 
dorf.  lUit  he  is  for  the  most  part  self-taught. 

Among  his  first  pictures  were  several  painted  from 
sketches  ma.de  while  he  was  a  soldier  in  the  Kast. 

Later,  he  went  to  Algeria,,  Morocco,  and  the  Crimea,  led 
by  his  desire  for  strong  lights  and  brilliant  colors.  These 
he  compares  to  a  "bouquet  whose  fiowers  he  sets  on  his 
palette." 

Q 


220  PICTURE   STUDY 

He  is  now  living  in  Paris. 

Method.  —  Of  whom  is  this  a  picture?  In  what  country? 
Is  the  journey  easy  or  difficult  for  the  horse?  for  the  man? 
(See  pp.  xxi,  5,  6,  7.) 

JAPAN 

iy  THE    UYEXO   PARK—  OUTAMARO 
Literature  : 

IIlSTORY    OF    MODERN    PAINTING        .  .  . 


JAPANESE  ILLUSTRATION          ....     Stnnn/r 

THE  PICTORIAL  AIMS  OF  JAPAN    .         .         .     Anderson 

JAPANESE  HOMES  AND  THEIR  SURROUNDINGS     Morse 

JAPONICA  ........     Sir  Edwin  Arnold 

LETTERS  FROM  JAPAN      .....     Frnsrr 

THE  CUSTOM  OF  THE  COUNTRY      .         .         .     Fniscr 

CENTURY,  vol.  '24.  p.  'ill  ;  SCRIHNER.  vol.  3.  p.  108;  vol.  13, 
pp.  300,  7:20:  ATLANTIC,  vol.  7S.  p.  210  ;  vol.  00.  p.  OH:  CHAUTAU- 
quAN,  vol.  11,  p.  730;  NEW  ENGLAND  MAGAZINE,  vol.  3,  p.  3-48; 
STRAND,  vol.  1.1,  p.  ofjS. 

OUTAMARO,  LEISURE  HOUR.  vol.  -14.  p.  314. 
LIFE  OF  OUTAMARO          .....      flancnnrt 

''  ;  Uyeno  park  lies  nortli  from  the  capital.  In  the  spring 
all  Tokio  delights  to  visit  it  for  the  sake  of  its  wonderful 
display  of  their  favorite  cherry  blossoms  ("king  of  flowers  " 
they  call  them),  and  in  August  the  mass  of  lotos  flowers  in 
the  pond  below  is  scarcely  less  beautiful.  ]>ut  the  park  does 
not  need  to  depend  upon  her  flowers  to  bring  visitors  to  her. 
Here  are  tombs  of  princes,  a  huge  bronze  Buddha,  a  beauti- 
ful old  temple  and  a.  famous  triple  bridge.  —  not  to  mention 
tea-houses  and  other  modern  means  of  diversion. 

"  In  the  background  of   this   picture   is  seen  one  of  the 


IN   Tin-:    i  •*  I:M>   I-.UIK.. 


228  PICTURE    STUDY 

Shinto  temples.  The  large  sign  placed  on  the  umbrella  pine 
tree  names  the  God  to  whose  service  it  is  now  dedicated.  The 
people  are  a  party  of  worshippers,  the  man  in  the  foreground 
carrying  water  and  flowers,  to  he  used  in  the  ceremonial. 
The  writing  in  the  lower  right  hand  corner  is  the  signature 
of  the  artist,  and  is  read,  of  course,  from  above  downward. 
In  the  upper  corner,  reading  from  right  to  left  according  to 
the  Japanese  custom,  the  inscription  is:  'Eight  landscapes 
of  Yeddo,  Evening  Bell  of  Uyeno  Park.' 

"  As  is  well  known,  oil  painting  exists  neither  in  China  nor 
Japan.  Just  as  the  Japanese  choose  the  slightest  materials 
for  building,  so  everything  in  their  painting  bears  a  trace 
of  extreme  lightness.  Japanese  pictures,  kakemonos,  are 
painted  in  water-color  or  China  ink  upon  framed  silk  or 
paper;  but  this  paper  has  the  advantage  over  the  European 
(and  American)  article  in  its  unsurpassed  toughness,  its 
remarkable  softness  and  pliability,  its  surface,  which  has 
either  a  dull,  silky  lustre  or  may  only  be  compared  with 
the  finest  parchment.  And  the  pictures  themselves  are 
kept  rolled  up,  and  only  hung  as  occasion  offers  and  accord- 
ing to  very  refined  rules.  Only  a  few  are  hung  at  a  time, 
and  only  such  as  harmonize.  When  a  visit  is  expected, 
the  taste  of  the  guest  determines  the  selection.  Fresh  and 
variously  colored  flowers  and  branches  placed  near  them  in 
vases  are  obliged  to  harmonize  in  color  with  the  pictures. 
As  an  instrument  for  painting  use  is  only  made  of  the 
pliant  brush  of  hair,  which  executes  everything  with  a  free 
and  fluent  effect.  Pen,  crayon,  or  chalk,  and  all  hard 
mediums  which  offer  resistance,  are  consistently  excluded. 
...  In  all  pictures,  whether  they  are  fanciful  or  plain 


IN    TIIK    rVKNO    1'AKK 


renderings  of  fact,  attention  is  riveted  by  the  s;une  keen- 
ness of  observation,  the  same  refinement  of  taste,  in  the 
highest  sense  of  the  word  by  pictorial  cliarni.  .  .  .  The 
Japanese  .  .  .  are  .  .  .  celebrated  as  the  most  spirited 
draughtsmen  in  existence. 

"The  Japanese  artist  lives  with  nature,  and  in  her,  as  no 
artist  of  any  other  country  has  ever  done.  .  .  .  "Every 
house,  even  in  the  centre  of  towns,  has  a  garden  laid  out  in 
tine  taste,  and  combining  beautiful  flowers,  trees,  and  cas- 
cades,—  everything  incidental  to  the  soil.  The  form  of 
trees,  the  shape  and  color  of  flowers,  the  ripple  of  leaves, 
the  gleaming  mail  of  insects,  are  so  imprinted  in  the  memory 
of  the  painter,  that  his  fancy  can  summon  them  at  pleasure 
\vithoiit  the  need  of  fresh  study.  ...  His  keen  eye  sees 
in  the  flight  of  birds  turns  and  movements  first  revealed 
to  us  by  instantaneous  photography.  This  quickness  of 
eye,  and  this  astonishing  exercise  of  memory,  enable  him 
to  attain  the  most  striking  effects  with  the  slightest  of 
means.  .  .  . 

''The  love  of  nature  is  born  in  the  Japanese;  but  the 
photographic  imitation,  the  servile  reproduction  of  reality. 
is  never  his  ultimate  aim.  .  .  .  Their  poets  never  describe, 
but  only  endeavor  to  express  a  spiritual  feeling,  to  hold 
a  memory  fast  • — •  the  blitheness  of  smiling  pleasure,  the 
mournfulness  of  vanished  joy.  They  sing  of  the  mist  pass- 
ing over  the  mountain  summit,  the  fishing-boats,  the  reeds 
by  the  seashore,  the  plash  of  waves,  the  riving  streaks  of 
cloud,  the  sunset  streaming  purple  over  the  weary  world. 
.  .  .  And  how  slight  are  the  means  that  have  been  em- 
ployed. Everything  has  the  freshness  of  life,  and  the 


230  PICTURE    STUDY 

sheer,  intangible  movements  of  objects  lias  been  caught  by 
a  simple  and  decisive  line.  .  .  .  Ho\v  the  Japanese  under- 
stood the  art  of  expressing  much  with  a  few  means,  where 
the  Europeans  toiled  with  great  expenditure  of  means  to 
express  little. 

"And  in  everything,  as  regards  color  too,  the  Japanese 
have  a  strain  of  refinement  peculiar  to  themselves.  .  .  . 
The  most  vivid  effects  of  red  and  green  trees,  yelloAV  roads, 
and  blue  sky  are  represented;  the  most  refined  effects  of 
light  are  rendered  —  illuminated  bridges,  dark  firmaments, 
the  white  sickle  of  the  moon,  glittering  stars,  the  bright 
and  rosy  blossoms  of  spring,  the  dazzling  snow  as  it  falls 
on  trim  gardens;  and  there  are  discords  nowhere.  How 
heavy  and  motley  our  coloring  is  compared  with  these 
delicious  chords,  set  beside  each  other  so  boldly,  and 
invariably  so  harmonious.  Is  it  that  our  eyes  are  by 
nature  less  delicate?  or  is  everything  in  the  Japanese  only 
the  result  of  more  rational  training?  \Ve  have  not  the 
same  intense  force  of  perception,  this  instinctive  and  sen- 
suous gift  of  color.  Their  coloring  is  a  delight  to  the  eye, 
a  magic  potion.  The  simplest  chords  of  color  are  often  the 
most  effective;  nothing  can  be  more  charming  than  the 
delicate  duet  of  gray  and  gold.  And  the  cheapest  woodcut 
has  often  all  these  refinements  in  common  with  the  most 
costly  kakemono.  Even  here,  where  they  turn  to  lowly 
things,  their  art  is  never  vulgar,  but  maintains  itself  of 
such  an  aristocratic  height  that  we  barbarians  of  the  West, 
blessed  with  oil  prints  and  academies  of  art.  can  only  look 
up  with  envy  to  this  nation  of  connoisseurs.  .  .  .'' 


IN    THK    I'YKNO    PAKIv  281 

/'Outamaro,  the  poet  of  women,  was,  in  a  special  sense, 
the  Watteau  of  aristocratic  life  in  Japan.  He  knew  the 
life  of  the  Japanese  woman  as  no  other  lias  ever  done  —  her 
domestic  occupations,  her  walks,  and  her  charming  graces, 
her  vanities,  and  her  love-affairs.  He  knew,  also,  the  scenes 
of  nature  which  she  contemplated,  the  streets  through  which 
she  passed,  and  the  banks  along  which  she  sauntered  with 
an  undulating  step.  Hi.s  women  are  slender  beings,  iso- 
lated like  idols,  and  standing  motionless  in  poses  hierati- 
cally  august;  aesthetic  souls,  who  swoon  and  grow  pale 
under  the  sway  of  disquieting  visions;  fading  flower 
forms  roaming  wearily  by  the  verge  of  a  lonely  sea  or  a 
sluggish  stream,  or  flitting  timidly,  like  bats,  through  the 
soft  brilliancy  of  lights  amid  a  festival  of  night.  And,  in 

J  O  o 

killing  what  is  tieshly  and  physical,  he  renders  the  faces 
visionary  and  dreamy,  renders  the  hands  and  the  gestures 
finer,  and,  at  the  same  time,  subdues  and  mitigates  the 
colors  and  the  splendors  of  the  clothes,  taking  pleasure  in 
dying  chords,  in  deep  black  and  tender  white,  in  tine, 
pallid  nuances  of  rose  color  and  lilac."-—  /iV//<m/  Mi/ther. 

Ivitagawa  Outamaro  (1754-180.'}),  rejoicing,  also,  in  the 
names  of  Vusuke,  Xobuyoski.  Masrasaki  Ki-ya,  early 
found  his  wav  from  the  province  in  which  lie  was  born  to 
the  city  of  Y'eddo.  Here  he  made  his  home  with  a  well- 
known  and  flourishing  publisher,  and  it  was,  in  conse- 
quence, as  an  illustrator  of  popular  novels  that  lie  began 
his  career.  After  this  he  began  to  work  in  color,  and 
devoted  himself  to  the  work  that  he  always  liked  best,  — 
the  reproduction  of  the  dainty,  lovely  women  of  Japan, 
their  habits,  and  their  wonderful  costumes. 


232  PICTURE    STUDY 

"The  Japanese  woman  is  small  and  tends  to  plumpness," 
writes  Tighe  Hopkins  in  the  Leisure  Hour.  "  Under  the 
pencil  of  Outamaro,  she  becomes  a  creation  of  slender  grace 
and  elegance,  yet  she  remains  essentially  Japanese.  Actu- 
ally her  face  is  rather  short  and  round ;  Outamaro  gives  us 
a  longish,  oval  countenance;  but  the  type  is  absolutely  that 
of  Japan.  His  women  are  coy  or  vivacious,  gay  or  languor- 
ous, studious  or  coquettish;  an  ideal  grace  and  daintiness 
belongs  to  all  of  them,  and  they  are  all  sincerely  and  exqui- 
sitely Japanese,  charming  little  daughters  of  the  land  of 
the  rising  sun." 

Outamaro  was  almost  equally  renowned  as  a  painter  of 
nature.  Xot  only  are  there  several  beautiful  representa- 
tions of  spring  and  other  of  the  poetic  sides  of  out-of-door 
life,  but  he  has  left  to  us  three  books  on  natural  history 
proper,  which  show  a  very  minute  knowledge  of  insects, 
birds,  and  reptiles.  To  the  volume  on  li  Insects  "  his  mas- 
ter has  written  a  little  preface,  telling  of  his  earliest 
remembrances  of  Outamaro  as  a  child  chasing  insects  in  the 
garden. 

"Many  a  time,"  says  he,  "I  have  scolded  him  for  this, 
in  the  fear  that  he  might  grow  up  to  be  a  wanton  destroyer 
of  life;  and  now,  in  the  fulness  of  his  powers,  his  studies 
of  insect  life  are  amongst  his  most  signal  achievements." 
For  a  caricature  of  an  official  of  note,  Outamaro  was  thrown 
into  prison  when  quite  an  old  man.  When  he  was  at  last 
set  free,  both  his  mind  and  body  had  suffered  from  the 
confinement.  Nevertheless,  he  began  at  once  to  work  in 
his  studio,  and,  work  hard  as  he  would,  he  could  not  begin 
to  satisfy  the  demands  of  the  public  and  his  publishers. 


IN  THE   UYENO   PARK  233 

After  his  death  his  widow  married  one  of  his  students, 
who,  thereupon,  took  the  name  of  the  great  artist.  But, 
in  spite  of  his  signature,  there  is  no  difficulty  in  discrimi- 
nating against  his  work. 

There  exist  several  portraits  of  Outamaro  by  himself. 
In  all  of  these  he  is  an  elegant  man,  with  carefully  dressed 
hair,  posed  somewhat  theatrically,  and  dressed  with  dis- 
tinction. 

Outamaro  was  very  illiterate.  He  Avas  also  dissipated. 
It  is  said  that  one  of  his  publishers  took  care  of  him  in  his 
own  home,  keeping  him  in  retirement  as  much  as  possible, 
fearing  that  otherwise  he  would  kill  himself  with  his  fast 
life,  and  thus  kill  a  goose  who  was  laying  golden  eggs  for 
the  publisher. 

Method. — Of  whom  is  this  a  picture?  Why  do  you 
think  so'/  What  kind  of  a  tree?  What  is  placed  on  its 
trunk?  What,  then,  is  the  building  back  of  the  tree?  Who 
are  the  people?  AVhat  is  each  doing?  Do  you  like  the 
picture?  Why? 

Give  them  a  brief  biography  of  the  artist  and,  if  possible, 
show  some  of  his  other  pictures. 

This  picture  should  be  preceded  with  a  study  of  Japan, 
however  superficial. 

By  all  means,  have  a  loan  collection  and  exhibition  of 
Japanese  objects  of  art,  and  these  will  include  everything 
that  they  manufacture,  from  pictures,  ivories,  porcelains, 
embroideries,  cloisonne,  down  to  tea  boxes  and  cheap  fans. 

If  you  tell  them  only  the  plain  truth  about  Japan  the 
children  will  not  fail  to  be  enthusiastic  over  this  wonderful 
country  and  yet  more  wonderful  people.  And  this  enthu- 


234  PICTURE    STUDY 

siastic  understanding  can  scarcely  fail  to  give  them  higher 
ideals  of  conduct  and  attainment. 
For  Hokusai  see  Part  IT. 


ITALY 
A   STREET  SCEXE—  PASSINI 

Literature  : 
MODERN   ITALIAN   AIM          ....      \\"tll<tr<l. 

IIlSTOHY    OF    MoDKKN     I'AIMIMi  .  .        .\futflfr. 

MAGAZIXK.  OK  AIM.  vol.  10.  p.  I'JT. 

Italy  and  Venice  : 

VENKTIAX   DAYS  .....      llnu-flh. 

(ioxnoi.A   DAYS   ......      /•'.  Hnjikimtitii  Smith. 

V.  Marion  Crawford's  Italian  stories:  M>mr  of  Ouida's.  notaMv 
PAS<  AHKI.LK.  I\  MAKKMAIA.  MOUFFLON. 

AIM  JornxAL,  vol.  '•>'•>.  p.  1-!S;  vol.  41.  p.  1'2  :  vol.  44,  p.  :>*  : 
HAHI-KI:.  vol.  no.  p.  ?•!* :  LIITKI.I.'S  LIVIXU  AGK.  vol.  1S1.  p.  (i.">!i : 
MA(;A/.INI:  OK  Airr.  vol.  10.  p.  l'_'T. 

'•  Liuhvi.n'  1,'assini  (IS.'!!'-  i  is  of  Austrian  hii-tli.  His 
father  was  a  distinguished  painter  and  engraver  in  Vienna. 
The  son  accompanied  his  father  in  his  daily  walks,  and 
early  aeqnired  the  paternal  habit  of  recording  what  he  saw 
in  his  sketch  book.  His  father  wished  to  make  him  an 
architect,  and  to  this  end  placed  the  boy  in  a  first  rate 
technical  school,  lint  young  1'assini  learned  here  nothing 
but  drawing  and  so  thoroughly  detested  the  technique  of 
the  profession,  that  his  father  finally  allowed  him  to  enter 


236  PICTURE    STUDY 

the  Academy,  with  the  idea  of  becoming  an  artist.  He 
worked  for  many  years  in  Rome  but  finally  settled  in 
Venice,  whose  life  his  pictures  so  often  reflect. 

'•And  though  comparisons  are  odious,  perhaps  Fassini 
will  not  resent  it  if  I  liken  him  to  a  forerunner,  ('arpaccio. 
Diversity  of  method,  if  you  will,  but  the  same  spirit.  Both 
are  examples  of  spirits  finely  touched  to  fine  issues.  Car- 
paccio worked  in  oil ;  Fassini  uses  water-color.  Carpaccio 
dealt  with  fantastic  legends,  with  dragons  and  basilisks, 
with  whatever  he  felt  inclined  to  treat  in  his  own  quaint 
individual  fashion.  And  Tassini  portrays  calm  scenes  of 
Venetian  popular  life  which  reveal  the  manners  and  customs 
of  an  irresistibly  charming  race.  Hut  in  all  Carpaccio's 
work  you  feel  the  man  ;  in  his  perception  of  what  should 
be  seized  and  shown  if  a  picture  is  to  move  human  sym- 
pathy. Kindliness  and  a  certain  radiant  sincerity  mark 
the  manner  of  Carpaccio.  These  (anilities  may  with  equal 
truth  be  attributed  to  Ludwig  Tassini.  for  they  are  eminent 
in  his  work.  And  those  who  have  the  privilege  of  his 
friendship  will  know  that  they  are  equally  eminent  in  the 
man."  -—  M<njazin^  of  Art.  /<S'rV7'. 

"  The  richly  colored  city  of  the  lagunes  is  his  domain  — 
not  romantic  Venice,  but  the  Venice  of  the  day,  with  its 
narrow  ways  and  pretty  girls;  Venice  with  its  glittering 
effects  of  light  and  picturesque  figures  in  the  streets. 
Laundresses,  and  women  making  bouquets,  sit  laughing  and 
jesting  over  their  work  —  the  same  coquettish  girls  with 
black  or  red  hair,  pearly  white  teeth,  and  neat  little  slip- 
pers who  move  also  in  the  works  of  Tito/' —  l{i<:hanl  Mnther. 


A   STREET    SCENE  237 

Method.  —  I 'recede  this  picture  \vitli  some  account  of 
Italy  or  Venice. 

At  what  are  the  people  looking?  Who  are  the  people  on 
the  steps?  What  were  they  doing  before  they  caught  sight 
of  the  donkeys  carrying  the  wooden  cages?  What  will 
each  do  later?  Where  is  this  street?  Look  at  the  beauti- 
ful window.  (See  pp.  xxi,  5,  6,  7.) 


238  PICTURE   STUDY 


SPAIN 

THE   MELON  EATERS  —  MURILLO 
(For  literature  and  an  account  of  Murillo,  see  p.  70.) 

This  picture  belongs  to  Murillo's  earlier  art,  and  is  with- 
out doubt  a  reminiscence  of  the  days  when  he  stood  in  the 
market-place  to  sell  his  rapidly  painted  pictures. 

Method. — What  is  each  of  these  doing?  What  is  the 
plant  to  the  left?  (Fig.)  What  fruits  and  vegetables  have 
the  children  in  the  basket?  Do  they  look  poor?  Would 
they  be  as  happy  in  our  country?  Why  not? 

There  are  four  other  pictures  in  this  series,  all  of  which 
typify  equally  well  the  comfort  and  comparative  ease  of 
living  in  the  warm  climate  of  Spain.  (See  pp.  xxi,  ;">,  6,  7.) 


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UNIVERSITY  of  OAL1FORN1. 

AT 
LOS  ANGELES 


